Portrait of Arabella Sparrow [later, Mrs. Rodney J. Southworth](1845-1928)

Date1848

Attributed to David Ryder (active 1848)

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Middleborough (probably)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 41 1/2 x 35 1/4in. (105.4 x 89.5cm) and Framed: 46 1/2 x 40 1/4in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1961.100.1

DescriptionOil portrait of charming little brown haired, round faced, blue-eyed girl, seated full length in a landscape setting. She wears a blue dress with short sleeves and lace at edges, and a white pinafore with lace trimming and long white pantalettes and black shoes. Her heir is short and wispy and parted in center. She is seated in a grassy garden in the lower right-hand corner of painting. A tall fluted, white marble column on a square base fills the left side of painting. It is covered with vines like Virginia creeper. Beside and behind the girl are various red and white flowers, lilies and strawberries. She holds large strawberries in her lap. Behind her and to her left are pink flowers and vines and a tall thin tree. In mid-distance is a stone wall with two symmetrical pine trees in front of it. On the far side are to men herding cows in a pasture. A farm house is in the mid-distance to the left. The horizon line is below the center of the painting and the little girl's head looms above the horizon. The farm house is white, two-storied with four chimneys, a barn and an arched lattice, painted white. The sky is blue. Original 2.3/4-inch board frame, painted red brown.
Label TextMany years after this engaging portrait of a child's world was completed, the subject attached a note to the back of the painting that reads "Portrait of/Arabella 'Lois' Sparrow Southworth./At 3 years of age-Painted by/Mr. David Ryder/of Rochester Mass. my father's/old home-I was sitting in/the front room on a cricket -/with strawberries in my hands/to keep me quiet - at the/Sparrow home on/Wareham St. - 1848."

The fidgety child was painted in her parent's parlor, while the vine-covered pillar and colorful summer garden overlooking a field and farmhouse were apparently added later, probably from memory or from a sketch.

David Ryder remains an elusive figure. Except for Mrs. Southworth's notation, nothing is known about him or about the extent and nature of his career as an artist. In this painting, the facile handling of foliage, flowers, and landscape details contrasts sharply with the flat, wooden treatment of ‚ the child and suggests the hand of someone more accustomed to creating wall murals or other forms of ornamental painting than with portraiture.

Arabella Sparrow, daughter of Jacob Y. and Lois Macomber Sparrow, was born in Middleboro Massachusetts, in 1845 and lived there throughout her life. She married Rodney J. Southworth and became a popular local vocalist, and died in 1928 at the family home on Wareham Street. ‚
MarkingsNone found
ProvenanceMiss Sara Andrews, Ashaway, R.I.