There is a new resident at the Andalusia Historic House, Gardens & Arboretum in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. Her name is Adèle Sigoigne, and her likeness in the Portrait of Miss Adèle Sigoigne (1815) attributed to American painter Bass Otis (1784 –1861) has found a new home on the walls of the Greek Revival mansion. Since 2014, visitors have been graced with her presence in the Andalusia library (an 1830s addition by American architect Thomas Ustick Walter [1804–1887]) as a long-term loan from the Independence Seaport Museum (ISM) in Philadelphia. However, Miss Adèle has recently moved quarters due to being acquired by Andalusia for their permanent art collection. She can now be found in the house’s Painted Floor bedroom, which is from the home’s original 1797 build by English-American architect Benjamin Latrobe (1764 –1820) .
“Displaying a portrait painting within a period interior is the most authentic way to present a great piece like this,” celebrates Biddle descendant and Andalusia trustee Edward E. Biddle (and father to ANTIQUES’s contributor Pippa Biddle). Also lauding this acquisition is president and CEO of ISM, Peter Seibert, “The decision by the [ISM’s] professional staff, volunteer collections committee, and Board of Port Wardens to deaccession and then transfer the painting to Andalusia was probably one of the easiest in my professional career. Organizationally, we were united in our view that this painting needed to become part of their permanent collection.”
The portrait displays what Andalusia Executive Director John Vick describes as a young woman attempting to represent herself in Philadelphia’s culturally sophisticated high society. Adèle is dressed in the fashionable Directoire style of the time in a Grecian-inspired gown with a crimson shawl wrapped around her shoulders and hair styled in a chic coif of chocolate-colored ringlets. This portrait was commissioned by her close friend Jane Craig Biddle (1793–1856), and perhaps one of the home’s most famous owners, husband Nicholas (1786–1844), and is considered by Andalusia as a symbol of the two women’s friendship. “By acquiring Bass Otis’s Portrait of Miss Adèle Sigoigne, we are helping to preserve her history, the artist’s history, and their connections to Andalusia,” says Vick.
From a wealthy family, Adèle Sigoigne was born in France and grew up in the then-French colony of Saint-Domingue, now Haiti. After the start of the Haitian Revolution in 1791, Adèle found a new home in the City of Brotherly Love with her mother, Aimée, who ran an elite all-girls school. Because of social connections made through the school and nightly salons hosted by her mother, Adèle was introduced to a fascinating circle of intellectuals, artists, and wealthy persons from in and outside of the city. It is not known to Andalusia when the two became friends, but Adèle was an early companion of Jane and was present for her wedding to Nicholas Biddle at the house in 1811. “Adèle was practically family to the Biddles,” explains Vick. So much so that the couple’s second daughter was Adèle’s namesake, and all three of their girls attended Aimée’s school.
Visitors to Andalusia may recognize that the Portrait of Miss Adèle Sigoigne is not the only Bass Otis artwork on display. The historic house also holds the artist’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1827), which Nicholas commissioned as a copy of Jacques-Louis David’s famous 1801 painting. According to Andalusia, this copy was once owned by Joseph Bonaparte who was the brother of the former French emperor and a neighbor of the Biddles. Aside from portraits, recreating famous artworks was a specialty of Otis; his Napoleon was one of at least six independent commissions of the painting.
Preserving and displaying this memento will serve as a historically significant contribution to Andalusia’s mission of better understanding Adèle’s dear friend. “This painting will enable Andalusia to better interpret the Craig era and Jane herself, because the friendship between Jane and Adèle came before Nicholas entered the scene,” says Vick. “…One can imagine Adèle being there through the big moments in Jane’s life: her father’s sudden death, her introduction and marriage to Nicholas, her ownership of Andalusia, her becoming a mother, and so much more.”
Portrait of Miss Adèle Sigoigne • Andalusia Historic House, Gardens & Arboretum, Bensalem, Pennsylvania • ongoing • andalusiapa.org
