Portrait of The Adams Family

Dateca. 1845-1850

MediumOil on canvas, now mounted on masonite

DimensionsUnframed: 28 x 41 3/4in. (71.1 x 106cm) and Framed: 35 x 49in.

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1936.100.5

DescriptionOil family portrait in a horizontal format, in interior setting. Background brownish door to left, panelled with brass knob, and appears to be a red line in right side, perhaps drapery? The floor is wooden and covered with a rug with geometric design -- green quatrefoils with mustard colored circles in center in middle of squares with mustard backgrounds; the squares separated by green borders. In the center of the room is a rosewood pedestal table covered with a greenish brown table cloth with lace border. On the table rests a small arrangement of red and white flowers in a glass; a black book; a red-bound book, open; and a small box (perhaps toleware?) On the right, seated in a black upholstered rocking chair with curving wooden arms and back is the father, dressed in a black coat, white shirt, neckcloth, long pants and black shoes. He has long curly sideburns and brown eyes. To his right, seated in a red upholstered chair, holding a book in her right hand is the mother. Her dress is black with a V bodice and long sleeves which puff slightly below the shoulder and are tight by the wrist. She wears a lace squared off collar in the neckline of her dress, and a white lace cap tied in a bow to the right of her chin. Standing to her right is one daughter in a greenish dress with lace at V neckline. Her hair, parted on the side, looped forward before the ears, and done in corkscrew curls‚ down her back. Next to her, seated behind the table in front of an open book, is another daughter similarly clad in a purplish dress with lace in the bodice. Her hair is parted in the center, looped in front of ears and corkscrew curls down her back. To her right is the youngest daughter, standing wearing a similar lavender colored dress. Hair parted in the center, looped in front of ears and corkscrew curls down her back. To her right is the oldest son. He wears his ‚ dark coat open to reveal his buttoned vest, white shirt, black necktie, and holds a rolled piece of paper in his hand. His pants are long and fastened under his shoe. The youngest sone stands behind his brother wearing a short jacket and dark vest buttoned down the front, with a white shirt and pointed collar and black necktie. On the floor to his right is a small foot stool upholstered in red, with gilded carved feet. A similar red stool is below the mother's ‚ feet. A brown and white dog lies in the foregrown in front of the table.
Label TextGroup portraits tested an artist's compositional skills; the greater the number of subjects, the more complex the task. By making a center table the focal point of this depiction of the Adams family, the painter cleverly underlined the role of a standard piece of Victorian furniture. Placed in the middle of every well-equipped parlor, such round-top, pedestal-based tables offered members of mid-nineteenth-century households the opportunity to meet, sit, sew, read, talk, and nurture family ties. In the Adams family portrait, the table's central role and the closely-spaced, overlapping bodies convey a clear impression of strong, stable, and devoted relations, a notable achievement for the painter, who had to organize seven humans plus a dog into a meaningful and attractive composition.
Only the Adams surname accompanies the painting, and the family has not been identified.

ProvenanceKatrina Kipper, Accord, Mass.; Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Given to C. W. by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.