Vail lived in Newark, New Jersey from 1837 until 1838, and in New York City from 1839 until 1863. City directories list her as a "miniature painter" until 1858, and as a "seller of fancy goods" thereafter until 1863. She exhibited work at the National Academy of Design in 1838, 1841, and 1847; the Apollo Association in 1839; the American Institute in 1845; and the Brooklyn Art Institute in 1863.[3] She appears never to have married, and in the census records from 1860 to 1880 is noted as living either alone or with members of her extended family.[4]
Two portraits by Vail, both of children, are currently in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[1][2] A pair of portraits, once thought to be of the artist and her son, belong to the Cincinnati Art Museum.[4] "Portrait of a Woman" dates to approximately 1840, and includes typical black garments of the time with a delicate lace collar, pinned by a brooch with its own miniature painting.[5] "Portrait of a Young Man" dates to the same time frame.[6] Another portrait, dated to 1840, is owned by the Yale University Art Gallery.[7] Few of Vail's works have been published; her style has been described as "idiosyncratic" and her figures "unusually constructed", and she favored a matte finish on her pieces, unlike other painters of her generation.[4]
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