Jeremiah Pearson Hardy; Portrait of Frances A. Blake; n.d.; oil on canvas; 46 3/8 in. x 36 3/4 in. (117.79 cm. x 93.35 cm.); This portrait figures Frances A. Blake; the wife of William Blake; a wealthy banker and merchant from Bangor; Maine. Painted by Jeremiah Pearson Hardy; the period's leading portraitist in Maine; it depicts Blake as an elegant and learned woman with a fondness for the guitar. Hardy was born in New Hampshire; but moved in 1826 to Bangor; then a booming lumber port. Having trained in New York under artist-inventor Samuel F.B. Morse; Hardy created portraits of many of the Maine's most prominent citizens.