Portrait of Rosa Heywood [later, Mrs. William O. Brown](1834-1923)

Dateca. 1840

Attributed to Robert Peckham (1785 - 1877)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 44 1/4 x 29 1/4in. (112.4 x 74.3cm) and Framed: 48 1/2 x 34 1/2in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1957.100.3

DescriptionA full-length portrait of a young girl standing in the corner of a room on an elaborate floral- and medallion-patterned carpet of greens, reds, and yellowish-greens. There is a green floral wallpaper on the walls, and the wainscoting is greyish. Behind her to her proper right is a rose bush in a planter with two buds on it. The planter is green with triangular "teeth" around the top. The green trapezoidal sides are pin-striped in yellow. The little girl wears a rich blue dress with sleeves that are gathered over the upper arms, billow out at the elbows, gathered above the wrists, and edged with lace trim. The neckline runs straight across her shoulders and is edged with lace. The dress has a slightly V waistline and bears pink trim. The tucked and pleated skirt extends below her knees. Her white stockings and pantalettes are visible below her skirt; her slippers match her dress. She wears a double strand of gold beads around her neck. Her brown hair is parted in the center and falls in curls behind her ears. She holds a large pink rose in her proper right hand.
The 3-inch molded and gilded frame is a period replacement.
Label TextApparently the luxuriant blossom in the little girl's hand was plucked from the rosebush behind her; it may have been intended as a symbol for her name. Christened "Rosette" and later called "Rosa," the child was the elder of two daughters born to Walter and Nancy Foster Heywood of Gardner, Massachusetts. In 1841, the family moved to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where her father founded the Walter Heywood Chair Manufacturing Company. In 1870 Rosa became the second wife of the firm's treasurer, William Otis Brown.

Attribution of the portrait has been debated over the course of decades. Stylistic comparisons with signed works and circumstantial evidence now support identification of the artist as Robert Peckham, a New England portraitist who painted before, during, and after his 1828-1842 stint as deacon of the First Congregational Church of Westminster, Massachusetts. (In the latter year, he was forced to resign his position because of his support of abolition, and in 1850, he was excommunicated from the church.) Peckham's work can be startlingly lifelike, other examples more formulaic. As with several other children painted by Peckham, Rosa Heywood's head exhibits unusually pronounced shaping and modeling at the temples.
ProvenanceThe portrait descended in the family to Mrs. Ralph W. Page, Brookline, Mass; Vose Galleries, Boston, Mass.; Harvey Additon, Boston, Mass.; Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, N.Y.