Portrait of Penelope Barker

What it is

This engraved print shows a woman identified as Mrs. Penelope Barker, dressed in 18th-century style, holding a small flower bud. It is the image traditionally used as her portrait and hangs in the Cupola House in Edenton, North Carolina. Its exact artist and date are uncertain.

Why it matters

Barker organized the Edenton Tea Party, a political protest by colonial women. Because few images of ordinary colonial women survive, this portrait has become the standard way she is remembered, even though historians are unsure how accurate it really is.

Look closer

• What details in the clothing and pose suggest status or wealth?
• Why might a community want a 'traditional' image of a figure even without certainty about its accuracy?
• What does the uncertainty around this portrait tell us about how women's images from this period were preserved?