Skip to main content

Lydia Maria Francis Child

Lydia Maria Francis Child
Artist
Auguste Edouart, 1788 - 1861
Sitter
Lydia Maria Francis Child, 11 Feb 1802 - 20 Oct 1880
Date
1841
Type
Silhouette
Medium
Ink, chalk and cut paper on paper
Dimensions
Image/Sheet: 28.2 × 21.2 cm (11 1/8 × 8 3/8")
Mat: 55.9 × 40.6 cm (22 × 16")
Frame: 47.9 × 37.8 × 3.2 cm (18 7/8 × 14 7/8 × 1 1/4")
Topic
Interior
Home Furnishings\Furniture\Seating\Chair
Printed Material\Book
Silhouette\Cut-out
Lydia Maria Francis Child: Female
Lydia Maria Francis Child: Journalism and Media\Magazine publisher
Lydia Maria Francis Child: Education and Scholarship\Educator\Teacher
Lydia Maria Francis Child: Literature\Writer\Novelist
Lydia Maria Francis Child: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Abolitionist
Portrait
Place
United States\New York\Kings\New York
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr.
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.91.126.56.B
Exhibition Label
Lydia Maria Child served on the executive board of the American Anti-Slavery Society, believing that women could accomplish more by working along- side men than they could working separately. She also advocated for the rights of Native Americans. When Child sat for this silhouette in 1841, she was a prominent writer and ardent abolitionist.
Auguste Edouart depicts Child seated as she concentrates on reading a text whose even lines suggest a printed book. Child wrote novels, as well as fiction and poetry that appeared in periodicals and newspapers. Her most famous poem begins, “Over the river and through the woods.” Child’s popularity was due in part to her ability to write in an entertaining style that sustained middle-class morals. Yet she also wrote more controversial works, such as Hobomok: A Tale of Early Times. The novel, published under a pseudonym, focuses on the marriage between a white woman and a Native American man and the child they had together.
Lydia Maria Child, miembro de la junta ejecutiva de la Sociedad Antiesclavista Estadounidense, creía que las mujeres podían lograr más trabajando junto a los hombres que por separado. También defendió los derechos de los nativos americanos. Cuando posó para esta silueta en 1841, ya era escritora prominente y abolicionista fervorosa.
Auguste Edouart presenta a Child sentada, leyendo un texto cuyas líneas uniformes sugieren que se trata de un libro impreso. Child escribía novelas y poemas que se publicaban en revistas y periódicos. Su poema más famoso comienza con el verso: “Más allá del río y cruzando los bosques”. Entre otras cosas, la popu- laridad de Child se debía a que podía escribir en un estilo ameno que a la vez sustentaba los valores de
la clase media. También escribió obras más contro- versiales, tales como Hobomok: A Tale of Early Times. Esta novela, publicada con seudónimo, trata sobre el matrimonio de una mujer blanca con un nativo americano y el hijo de ambos.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view