23 facts about Aramenta Dianthe Vail

Aramenta Dianthe Vail (1820–1888) was an American painter of miniatures.

Vail lived in Newark, New Jersey from 1837 until 1838, and in New York City from 1839 until 1863. City directories list her as a “miniature painter” until 1858, and as a “seller of fancy goods” thereafter until 1863. She exhibited play in at the National Academy of Design in 1838, 1841, and 1847; the Apollo Association in 1839; the American Institute in 1845; and the Brooklyn Art Institute in 1863. She appears never to have married, and in the census chronicles from 1860 to 1880 is noted as vibrant either alone or like members of her lengthy family.

Two portraits by Vail, both of children, are currently in the store of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A pair of portraits, once thought to be of the artist and her son, belong to the Cincinnati Art Museum. “Portrait of a Woman” dates to nearly 1840, and includes typical black garments of the time in imitation of a delicate lace collar, pinned by a brooch in imitation of its own miniature painting. “Portrait of a Young Man” dates to the same time frame. Another portrait, dated to 1840, is owned by the Yale University Art Gallery. Few of Vail’s works have been published; her style has been described as “idiosyncratic” and her figures “unusually constructed”, and she favored a matte finish on her pieces, unlike other painters of her generation.