Images(2)

Mary's Homecoming

DatePossibly 1856

Artist Lewis Miller (1796-1882)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Montgomery County

MediumWatercolor and ink on paper

DimensionsPrimary support (slightly irreg.): 5 3/16 x 8 5/16in. (13.2 x 21.1cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1981.301.2

DescriptionAt left, a woman faces the viewer and sits side-saddle on a horse. She wears a blue skirt with white, figured edging; a white, long-sleeved jacket with a ruffled collar; and a flat straw bonnet with ribbons. A long piece of dark green fabric behind her shoulders appears to stream from her bonnet as well. Her horse has a yellow bridle and a saddle cloth with yellow trim and white, figured edging. To the right of the horse, a three-step mounting block sits on the ground, and a man and two women stand in front of the slightly opened door of a house. The leftmost woman wears a short-sleeved white dress with square neckline, and the man wears a black top hat and bright blue suit. The woman at right wears a three-quarter sleeved pink dress with a rounded neckline and gestures inward with her arms, inviting the rider to enter the house. The limb of a tree projects beyond the left side of the house, over and beyond the horse's head. At far right, a grapevine snakes through a low trellis on the ground, up the side of the house, and over the doorway along the roof edge. The house itself is painted pale pink with a white door and window trim. There are shaped lintels above both the window and the six-paneled door, which has a round, hanging door knocker at its center. Elaborate, carved modillions support the gray roof that peeks into the composition at upper right.
Label TextMany of Lewis Miller's scenes of everyday life offer a glimpse into the lives of the artist and his beloved Virginia relatives while also documenting the dress, architecture, landscaping, and customs of the period. The identity of woman riding side-saddle—"Miss Mary"—is not confirmed, but she may have been Mary M. Ingles, a relative of Miller who lived in Montgomery County, Virginia. Miller created another drawing of Mary Ingles; on it, he wrote that she had a grapevine "close to the house" and "on the sunny side." Perhaps that is the very vine represented in this composition.
InscribedIn the lower right corner in the margin below the composition is "L. Miller." in ink. In the lower margin in ink is "Miss Mary, Comeing home, O! our dear old happy home."
ProvenanceThe Colonial Williamsburg Foundation acquired this piece from Jane Allen Crush Brown (Christiansburg, VA) at the same time as 1981.301.1. She was a descendant of the "Jane Edie" for whom 1981.301.1 was made, and both pieces are assumed to have descended in the family, although the exact line of descent is not documented. Jane Allen Crush Brown's father was Charles Wade Crush (1893-1970), his father was Charles Hastings Crush (1852-1893), his mother was Mary Louise Wade (1859-1938), and her mother was Jane Harriet Edie (1826-1912), for whom Miller made 1981.301.1.