Portrait of Emma Clark (b. ca. 1826)

Date1829

MediumWatercolor, pencil, and ink on heavy wove paper

DimensionsPrimary support: 5 9/16" x 4 7/16" and Framed: 8 3/8" x 7 3/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958.300.5

DescriptionA full-length portrait of a young girl holding a doll and seated on a footstool on a yellow-and-black paint-decorated floor; the girl is turned in three-quarter view towards the onlooker's left. She has pale brown or blonde hair parted in the middle and tightly curled on either side of her head. She wears blue shoes, red beads, and a short-sleeved, high-waisted, red tucked dress having cording, or a decorative edging, at the hem. She holds a large doll wearing a somewhat similarly styled dress but colored blue. The black background is distinctively stippled mat and glossy.

Artist unidentified.

The 1 1/2-inch gold leaf splayed frame is a period replacement.
Label TextSix portraits stylistically related to this one have been recorded; all are likenesses of adults seated in Empire-style chairs with tasseled drapery in the background. The image of Emma Clark is isolated on a vibrantly patterned floor that recedes into seemingly infinite darkness behind her, lending a somewhat surreal quality. The large doll on the child's lap looks more like a miniature adult than the plaything intended by the artist. Like her young owner, the doll wears a string of beads and a dress distinguished by puffed sleeves and decorative cording, edging, or tucks at the hemline. Thus far, Emma Clark is known only by her name, which is inscribed on the reverse of the primary support.
InscribedInscribed in ink in script on the reverse of the primary support is "Emma Clark/Aged 3 years/1829."
ProvenanceJ. Stuart Halladay and Herrel George Thomas, Sheffield, Mass. Halladay died in 1951, leaving his interest in their jointly-owned collection to his partner, Thomas. Thomas died in 1957, leaving his estate to his sister, Mrs. Albert N. Petterson, who was AARFAC's vendor.