Henriette Wyeth, Young Peter

Henriette Wyeth (1907-1997) daughter of Newell Convers, sister of Andrew, aunt to James, and wife of Peter Hurd, contracted polio when she was three years old. This affected the use of her right hand and as a result she learned to draw with her left hand and paint with her right. Considered a child prodigy, at 13 she was enrolled in the Normal Arts School in Boston and entered the Boston Museum of Art Academy the following year. Two years later she moved to Philadelphia to study painting at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. By 16 she was well known as a portraitist and received commissions for paintings of Wilmington residents. It's obvious in this portrait of her young son that she had that rare ability to capture the essence of a person in her work.