In life, as on canvas, she was strong-minded and sincere, an influential member of early Philadelphia salon society, an advisor to the nation's first president and a dedicated correspondent. As rendered in artists' paint she is a serious woman with rather strong features, apart from a slightly receding chin, and a decidedly cerebral presence. However, Maxey has found a rendering of the indomitable Elizabeth Willing Powel to be particularly illuminating about the experiences behind that impassive face, as a mother whose sons died early in childhood, a woman who spent much of her life a widow, and a talented and influential person who slipped quietly into obscurity upon her death. Maxey uses Powel's own correspondence and other primary documents to discern how that particular rendering, a funerary allegory, made its way back to the Powel manse and expressed her grief as no other way could. Annotation 2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
