Samuel Addison Shute and Ruth Whittier Shute

He had a sister, Adelaide Montgomery Shute, who was born disabled, and lived with her mother for the majority of her life.

Between 1827 and 1831, Samuel and Ruth painted separately, and periodically drew influences and ideas from each other, which led to collaborations between 1830 until 1833.

[6][7] Ralph Esmerian, a well-known collector and supporter for the American Folk Art Museum, donated several watercolor pieces made by Samuel Addison and Ruth Whittier Shute.

[9] Many of their portraits depict young working-class women who had migrated from their rural family homes to work in the textile mills that were then a strong part of the industrial economy of New England.

[10] Samuel Addison Shute fell ill around the year 1834, which led the couple to move to Champlain, New York.

[11] When her husband died in 1836, while still in his early 30s, Ruth Whittier Shute later remarried to Alpha Tarbel and moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where she had two daughters and continued to paint for another 45 years until her death in 1882.

[12][13] The faces have a great amount of detail when compared against the subject's body and clothing, which was a common theme within the couple's portraits.

On many of their male and female figures, the torso is short and the waist can be pinched inward, giving the body an hourglass shape.