Unidentified Subject-Female, Early 19^th Century

Unknown Artist

Cut Paper Silhouette on Silk

This silhouette in the White House Collection includes the inscription “Peale’s Museum,” indicating that it could be a piece made by Moses Williams in his time making silhouettes there. However, forgeries of Peale’s Museum silhouettes abounded in the twentieth century—and according to curator Anne Verplanck, the size and appearance of this piece suggests this may not be an original.