The widow of an Indian chief, watching the arms of her deceas'd husband / painted by J. Wright ; engraved by J.R. Smith. – Antique Print
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
The widow of an Indian chief, watching the arms of her deceas'd husband / painted by J. Wright ; engraved by J.R. Smith. comes to life in this historic print, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.
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The widow of an Indian chief, watching the arms of her deceas'd husband / painted by J. Wright ; engraved by J.R. Smith.
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Rather than a portrait of a named individual, this mezzotint shows a widow of an Indian chief keeping watch over the arms of her dead husband, a subject Joseph Wright of Derby painted in oil in the mid-1780s. The engraver, John Raphael Smith, was one of London's most skilled mezzotinters, and he published this version in January 1789. Like many European images of the period, it draws on the idea of the noble, grieving "savage," so it reveals more about British sentiment and taste than about the Native nations it claims to depict. The mezzotint process, with its rich, velvety tones, made such painting reproductions widely available to buyers beyond the original canvas's owners.
| Created / published | London : J.R. Smith, 1789 January 29. |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 print : mezzotint. |
| Genre | Paintings Reproductions 1780-1790.Mezzotints 1780-1790. |
| Notes | Published in: Eyes of the nation : a visual history of the United States / Vincent Virga and curators of the Library of Congress ; historical commentary by Alan Brinkley. New York : Knopf, 1997. |
| Subjects | Indians of North America--Women--1780-1790. Widows--1780-1790. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,464 × 1,184 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-218477 |
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