Harriet Cany was born in 1799 in Philadelphia, Pa. She worked in her parents’ dry goods store until she started studying art in the 1830s. It was at that time that she met with Rembrandt Peale, at the encouragement of her friends, to get feedback on her painting. The two artists married on November 6, 1840. Harriet and Rembrandt often painted together, including the same subjects at the same time. She assisted her husband in the production of his numerous “Porthole” portraits of George Washington. Harriet also copied several of her husband’s portraits.
Harriet first exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art in 1840. She continued to exhibit her works regularly until 1866. She is known to have painted landscapes, still lifes, portraits, genre and “fancy pieces.” She also replicated other artists’ works, such as a piece originally executed by Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn in 1645 and titled “Girl at a Window.” Harriet’s version of the painting, seen here and titled “A Little Red Riding Hood,” was left to Henry S. Babcock in her codified January 8, 1869, will. The DAR Museum acquired Harriet’s painting at an auction in May 2021.
More recently, her landscape works have also been associated with the Hudson River School, a mid-19th century art movement associated with landscape painters who were influenced by Romanticism. – William Strollo