Emily Heyward Drayton Taylor ( – June 19, 1952) was an American

miniature painter A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

. Emily Heyward Drayton was born on in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the daughter of Henry Edward Drayton and Mary Brady Drayton. She married neurologist Dr. John Madison Taylor in 1879. Taylor studied art under Cécile Ferrère-Guérin in Paris, likely in the 1870s, and at the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...

in 1877. She painted over 400 miniature portraits, including likenesses of US President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

and

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

Ida Saxton McKinley Ida McKinley ( née Saxton; June 8, 1847 – May 26, 1907) was the first lady of the United States from 1897 until 1901, as the wife of President William McKinley. Born to a successful Ohio family, Ida met her future husband and later marr ...

in 1899. One of her works, now in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, is a copy of a work by

Edward Greene Malbone Edward Greene Malbone (1777 – May 7, 1807) was an American painter, and the most sought-after miniaturist of his day. He was an influence on other artists including Charles Fraser, William Dunlap and John Wesley Jarvis. Edward Greene Malbone ...

, a painting of the eye of Maria Miles Heyward Drayton, her paternal grandmother. Taylor was the founding president of the

Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters The Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters was founded in 1901 by Emily Drayton Taylor to promote the work of miniature portrait painters of Pennsylvania. It held exhibits from 1901-1951 at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Taylor served a ...

, serving from 1901 to 1951. She wrote the chapter "Miniature Painting as an Art" for the book ''Heirlooms in Miniatures'' (1898) by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, the first book on the history of American miniatures. Emily Drayton Taylor died on June 19, 1952, in Philadelphia at the age of 92.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Emily Created via preloaddraft 1860 births 1952 deaths Portrait miniaturists 19th-century American painters American women painters Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Artists from Philadelphia