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Primary sourcePainting1853

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Alanson Fisher · 1853

An 1853 oil portrait of Harriet Beecher Stowe, painted at the height of her fame following Uncle Tom's Cabin.

This formal portrait of Stowe was painted in 1853, at the height of her fame after Uncle Tom's Cabin.

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Oval portrait painting of a woman with dark hair in ringlets, wearing a black dress with white lace collar, gold clasp, and lace cuffs, arms crossed, with a red drape at right against a gray background.
Alanson Fisher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1853. National Portrait Gallery.

About this source

What it is

This oval oil portrait of Harriet Beecher Stowe was painted in 1853 by Alanson Fisher. It is held by the National Portrait Gallery.

Why it matters

Painted just after Stowe became internationally famous for Uncle Tom's Cabin, this portrait shows how she was presented to the public: as a respectable, dignified Christian woman author, rather than as a radical agitator, even though her book had a revolutionary political impact.

  • What does Stowe's clothing, posture, and expression suggest about the image the painter wanted to create?
  • Why might a famous author's portrait look calm and modest rather than dramatic?
  • What is left out of a formal portrait like this that a photograph or letter might reveal instead?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Harriet Beecher Stowe on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Vol. I, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Boston, John P. Jewett & Company, 1852. Engraved vignette shows a log cabin with several figures in front, including a standing man and children.Book

Primary source

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe · 1852

Handwritten manuscript on aged paper with cursive text and crossed-out words, showing the resolutions of the Compromise of 1850, including provisions on California statehood and slavery in the territories.Document

Primary source

Compromise of 1850

Henry Clay · 29 January 1850 (resolutions); statutes enacted September 1850

Sepia daguerreotype portrait of a seated woman with dark hair in center-parted ringlets, wearing a dark dress with a white lace collar. She rests one hand on her lap beside a table holding a potted plant with a patterned cloth.Photograph

Primary source

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Southworth and Hawes · c. 1850

Handwritten manuscript page of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, headed 'Thirty-third Congress of the United States, First Session, begun and held at the city of Washington, December 1853,' with the title 'An Act to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas' in ornate script.Document

Primary source

Kansas-Nebraska Act

United States Congress · 1854

Document

Primary source

A Reply to 'The Affectionate and Christian Address of Many Thousands of Women of Great Britain and Ireland'

Harriet Beecher Stowe · 1863

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