The paintings depict the two daughers of Robert Orrell and his wife, Ann Walsh Dickens. These portraits of Emma Jane and Martha Orrell were painted posthumously. For a pair of portraits of Emma Jane and Martha Orrell's parents, see lot 40.

James Sullivan Lincoln, an accomplished Rhode Island painter, produced an extensive body of work during his sixty year career. Eleven portraits of Governors painted by Lincoln are housed in The Rhode Island State House.