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Portrait of The Hayward Children
No image number on slide

Portrait of The Hayward Children

DatePossibly 1834
OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, South Acton (possibly)
MediumOil on tulip poplar panel
DimensionsUnframed: 37 3/4 x 37in. (95.9 x 94cm) and Framed: 43 1/4 x 43in.
Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller
Object number1931.100.14
DescriptionOil portrait of three children against a dark ground. Oldest girl stands to left. She wears a pink dress, off-the-shoulders with puff sleeves, and balloon-like pantaletts visible below. The neckline and edges of her dress have a nice lace trim. She wears a black apron and a long gold beaded chain around her neck which reaches to below her waist. The beads of the chain are picked out in heavy impasto. She has her left arm around her brother and offers a peach to him with her right. He has blond hair, and wears an off-the-shoulder brown costume, with a long overdress (knee length) with details in black braiding, and three rows of brass buttons down the front. The neckline of the dress top and the cuffs of the puffed sleeves are trimmed with lace. Brown pants show below his dress. To the far right is the youngest sister, who confidently rests her hand on her brother's elbow. She wears a high waisted pink dress with puff short sleeves, and lace trimming at the neckline, and cuffs of sleeves. She holds a rattle in her left hand. All three children have big starring brown eyes. The grouping is very affectionate. It is positioned rather far to the right of the picture frame, i.e. it is not balanced in the center. The figures are well rounded.
Label TextAccording to a Hayward family descendant, this painting shows Eben Scott Hayward flanked by his sisters, Sarah and Augusta. The artist effectively captured the children's love and devotion through their interlocking arms and overlapping bodies. Such familial devotion is less often seen in American portraits from the eighteenth century.
MarkingsNone found
ProvenanceFound in Syracuse, NY, by Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, NY; bought from Halpert November 9, 1931, by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, by whom given to CWF in 1939.