Delia Spencer Caton Field

Delia Spencer Caton Field was a prominent art collector, philanthropist, and leader in the grassroots Pure Foods Movement. By raising awareness of unsanitary and unsafe food production, she and other women inspired the 1906 U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act, which prohibited “adulterated and misbranded food and drugs.” In 1907, as chair of the Civic Health Association in Chicago, she led an effort to stop the “adulteration” of milk with chemical preservatives and additives.
Chicago lawyer Arthur J. Caton commissioned George Peter Alexander Healy to paint this portrait of his wife in Paris while the young couple were on their honeymoon.

After Caton’s death in 1904, she married retailer Marshall Field. Widowed a second time in 1906, she resided primarily in Washington, D.C., from 1912 until her death. There, she entertained the political and social elite in her mansion, known as the Pink Palace, on 16th Street, NW.