Lydia Coit Terry (Mrs. Eliphalet Terry)

Morse's companion portrait of Lydia Coit Terry, painted around 1824, depicts the wife of Eliphalet Terry. These matched portraits were produced during Morse's years of itinerant portrait painting before he settled in New York. The Terry portraits demonstrate Morse's ability to produce competent, engaging likenesses that satisfied his clients, even as he longed for the opportunity to pursue the grander ambitions of history painting.

Morse's oil-on-canvas technique renders Mrs. Terry with warm flesh tones and the refined handling that reflects his London training. The portrait balances academic competence with the forthright directness that American clients expected.