The Identity of Beardsley Limner The true face of Beardsley Limner remains a mystery that has long puzzled those who study the early American portrait tradition. While the name has become a fixture in art history, the person behind the brush has never been definitively unmasked. It was Nina Fletcher Little who first brought this name to light, identifying a specific hand through a series of striking likenesses. For many years, the artist existed only as a shadow, a phantom presence defined by the works left behind rather than a documented life. By 1984, scholars had attributed sixteen portra…