This oil portrait of Ann Cascoline Merrill Staples shows her as a young woman. She married Ai Staples in 1832 and they ran a successful chandlery business in Portland.

The portrait has been attributed to William Mathew Prior (1806-1873). William Mathew Prior was a folk art portrait painter who was born and raised in Bath, Maine. He painted for many years in Bath until he moved to East Boston, where he wrote two books and continued to paint. There are about 1,500 portraits attributed to Prior, and his works are found in many museums and institutions around the United States.