This image was published in an annual publication called The Magnolia in 1836. The Knickerbocker, a New York Monthly magazine in its review descibed the engraving:  “ ‘The White Plume,’ engraved by Durand, from a painting by Ingham, is well drawn, and finely cut. Bold contrasts of dark and light, and good general effect, mark its execution.”
 
The Sitter modelling the hat is Miss Jane Riker Lawrence, later Mrs Benjamin Lee of New York. 
 
The Engraver: Asher Brown Durand (1796-1886) (American) 
Asher B. Durand studied printmaking with his father, a watchmaker and silversmith. From 1812 to 1817 he was apprenticed to the New Jersey engraver Peter Maverick and soon became a partner.  Durand became a leading engraver, and enjoyed considerable success producing bank notes, book illustrations, portraits, and copies after other artists' works. 
In the early 1830s Durand worked less frequently as an engraver and began painting portraits and decided to concentrate on painting full-time.  
 
Despite travelling and studying the Old Masters in Europe, he increasingly believed that direct study of nature should be the primary inspiration for America artists espousing theories similar to those of the influential British critic John Ruskin (1819-1900).  His meticulously painted landscapes were much admired for their faithful depictions of natural forms and light and atmosphere. His Kindred Spirits of 1849 (now in the New York Public Library), almost immediately became one of the best-known paintings in the country.  
A catalogue of the engraved works of Durand was published accompanying an exhibition of his engravings at the Grolier Club, New York in 1895.  
 
 
The Artist:  Charles Cromwell Ingham (1796-1863).
Trained in Dublin under William Cumming, a painter known for his accomplished portraits of women in 1816 Ingham left Ireland for New York where he, in turn, enjoyed considerable success as a painter of society women. His highly-finished style required lengthy sittings.