Object Details
- Artist
- Abbott Handerson Thayer, born Boston, MA 1849-died Dublin, NH 1921
- Sitter
- Mary Thayer
- Gerald Thayer
- Gerald Thayer
- Mary Thayer
- Luce Center Label
- This work portrays Abbott Thayer's children one year after their mother's hospitalization for "melancholia," or severe depression. Kate Thayer became physically ill while hospitalized, and Thayer wrote to a friend that her physical deterioration would not be so horrible "were her soul visible" (Anderson, Abbott Handerson Thayer, 1982). Thayer captured the sadness and worry of this difficult period in Mary's heavy-lidded, watery eyes and in Gerald’s searching expression. They look like a modern-day Madonna and Child. Their mother would live for two more years, but in this portrait it is as if Mary has already taken on her mother's role in the family. After Kate died, Thayer clung to his children as an emotional anchor, and he often depicted them as sacred figures.
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly
- 1889
- Object number
- 1929.6.114
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 36 1/4 x 28 1/4 in. (92 x 71.9 cm)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Topic
- Children
- Portrait female\child
- Portrait group\family\siblings
- Portrait male\knee length
- Portrait male\child
- Portrait female\waist length
- Record ID
- saam_1929.6.114
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk76e8092d2-7ec3-4f1a-beb2-e59241e7d9bd
