Willow, Grave, and Woman Weeping

Dateca. 1815

Attributed to Eunice Pinney (1770-1849)

MediumWatecolor on wove paper

DimensionsPrimary support: 12 3/4 x 15 7/8in. (32.4 x 40.3cm) and Framed: 14 3/4 x 17 15/16 x 1 3/16in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958.304.3

DescriptionA woman stands at left beneath a willow tree; in her propr right hand, she holds one end of a sash. She bends over, leaning on a large, unlettered tombstone, her face buried in a handkerchief held in her proper left hand. She wears a blue dress whose neckline is trimmed in a white ruffle; a gray sash is tied behind her. She also wears a white ruffled cap. The rectangular tomb supports a large urn on top. To the right, a distant landscape includes a bridge over a body of water and buildings on the far shore.
The 1 3/8-inch molded and gilded cyma recta frame is a period replacement.
Label TextFour undedicated memorials by Pinney have been recorded. "Willow, Grave, and Woman Weeping" is atypical of the artist's mourning pictures in that it includes a single major figure, rather than a group of them, but the distraught woman's pose is very similar to others created by the artist. Two other Pinney mourning pictures include a distant vignette of figures boating on a body of water with buildings beyond, and one of these, an 1813 memorial that Pinney dedicated to herself, contains a landscape that is nearly identical to the right-hand background seen here.
ProvenanceJ. Stuart Halladay and Herrell 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.