Provenance

Burton family

American, c. 19th - early 20th century

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A pale-skinned child wearing a short-sleeved red dress and a white bonnet stands before a shadowy green forest under dark clouds in this vertical portrait painting. The child’s over-large head is out of scale with the rest of her body. She looks toward us with brown eyes in her wide, round-jawed face. She has a broad nose, and her pale lips are set in a line. Her lace bonnet lines her black hair like frothy seafoam and is tied with spring-green bows at the top and under her right ear, to our left. The low neckline of her crimson dress is lined with a wide white ruffle. Red fabric covers her hands, which are gathered in front of her waist. Gray clouds sweep over the hazy green forest in the background. A gnarled tree grows up the left side of the painting, framing the girl.
Edward Hicks, Portrait of a Child, c. 1840, oil on wood, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1980.62.14

Portrait of a Child

Edward Hicks · c. 1840 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1980.62.14