Currently not on view

Girl in Calico,

ca. 1840–1850

possibly by Mary B. Tucker, American, active ca. 1840 - 1850
x1958-50
In the early nineteenth century, the watercolor portrait enjoyed particular success among middle-class New Englanders—customarily young girls would be shown holding a flower or a book, as in this case. The artist has tentatively been identified as Mary B. Tucker, who is documented as having been active in Concord and Sudbury, Massachusetts. Her signed and dated portraits feature sitters with similarly almond-shaped eyes posing against neutral backgrounds that are darkest around the figure. Here the artist deploys the watercolor medium most boldly in the patterned fabric of the girl’s calico dress, which becomes vibrant through the pooling of different hues of brown and blue within the stripes that run together at the center of the bodice.

Information

Title
Girl in Calico
Dates

ca. 1840–1850

Medium
Recto: Watercolor, brush and brown ink, and graphite Verso: Brush and brown ink over graphite
Dimensions
61.3 x 48 cm (24 1/8 x 18 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Edward Duff Balken, Class of 1897
Object Number
x1958-50
Inscription
Inscribed on old frame back: GIRL IV | FOUND IN MASSACHUSETTS | Req. 56 | B4-T3
Culture

Private collection, Massachusetts; Edward Duff Balken.;