Henry Walton

Depicted in an impressive full-length size, an adolescent girl about the age of twelve or thirteen, wearing a salmon pink, all-over patterned, puffed-sleeve dress, stands composed on a carpet against floral wallpaper and a window with lace fringe. Her intense, somber gaze and loose handkerchief held in front of her apron suggest that she has been crying. This portrait of Miss Stroh of Lancaster County descended in the family for generations before arriving at Kennedy Galleries in New York. The Stroh family settled in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the early eighteenth century, and variations of spellings of the surname have generated throughout the years, including “Straw” and “Strow”. This Miss Stroh clearly came from a well-to-do family, donning fine attire in an equally decorative setting.