GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Today we are familiar with the props found in a commercial photographer's studio: dresses, hats, toys, chairs, and even painted or photographic backdrops of snow scenes or sunlit meadows, and cozy interiors or grand salons. In Colonial America, the portrait painter's studio was festooned with dresses, bolts of fabric, hats, parasols, and books of mezzotints from which the sitter could choose how he or she wished to be portrayed. Although some sitters preferred to be painted in their own clothes, it was common to ask the artist to invent the woman's dress, or change its color and ornament. Everything that appeared in the painting could be modified to suit the patron, in order to arrive at a portrait that displayed how the sitter wished to be perceived.
Backdrops were often invented, too. The column, urn, and swagged drapery in Copley's portraits of the Langdons (1996.70.1.McD, 1996.70.2.McD) resembled nothing in their home or in any building in their town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire; rather, they conveyed the idea that Woodbury Langdon was an educated and sophisticated man who understood the importance of visiting the classical world (usually Rome) as "part of his trainingto be a gentleman. Even if he had never traveled abroad, Langdon could present himself as a worldly man.
Itinerant artists, who traveled to their clients, did not have permanent studios and elaborate props. Instead they used each sitter's household furnishings as a guide, but again often invented or upgraded the woman's dress, and the house's furniture, upholstery, and curtains. Sometimes the background was a landscape rather than an interior. Ralph Earl painted Captain John Pratt (1990.146.1) against a local landscape depicting the Middletown, Connecticut Town Hall. Undoubtedly Pratt asked Earl to paint him as a war hero and aspiring political leader; in suggesting that Pratt is an upstanding, brave patriot, the painting does not differ much from modern political and advertising in its message.
Excerpt from
DMA unpublished material
NOTES
Full source for General Description: "American Portraiture: Costumes and Backdrops," DMA research document, n.d., Education files.
Rule written in order to reach some of the highlights of our Colonial Portrait collection even though some of them were made after Revolutionary War.
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WEB RESOURCES
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RULES
set operator as AND
apply to objects where geography_ancestor_id equals 7012149 OR geography_ancestor_id equals 6000236
apply to objects where date_begin lte 1800
apply to objects where date_begin gte 1600
apply to objects where department_id equals 6
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
Today we are familiar with the props found in a commercial photographer's studio: dresses, hats, toys, chairs, and even painted or photographic backdrops of snow scenes or sunlit meadows, and cozy interiors or grand salons. In Colonial America, the portrait painter's studio was festooned with dresses, bolts of fabric, hats, parasols, and books of mezzotints from which the sitter could choose how he or she wished to be portrayed. Although some sitters preferred to be painted in their own clothes, it was common to ask the artist to invent the woman's dress, or change its color and ornament. Everything that appeared in the painting could be modified to suit the patron, in order to arrive at a portrait that displayed how the sitter wished to be perceived.
Backdrops were often invented, too. The column, urn, and swagged drapery in Copley's portraits of the Langdons (1996.70.1.McD, 1996.70.2.McD) resembled nothing in their home or in any building in their town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire; rather, they conveyed the idea that Woodbury Langdon was an educated and sophisticated man who understood the importance of visiting the classical world (usually Rome) as "part of his trainingto be a gentleman. Even if he had never traveled abroad, Langdon could present himself as a worldly man.
Itinerant artists, who traveled to their clients, did not have permanent studios and elaborate props. Instead they used each sitter's household furnishings as a guide, but again often invented or upgraded the woman's dress, and the house's furniture, upholstery, and curtains. Sometimes the background was a landscape rather than an interior. Ralph Earl painted Captain John Pratt (1990.146.1) against a local landscape depicting the Middletown, Connecticut Town Hall. Undoubtedly Pratt asked Earl to paint him as a war hero and aspiring political leader; in suggesting that Pratt is an upstanding, brave patriot, the painting does not differ much from modern political and advertising in its message.
Excerpt from
DMA unpublished material
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Full source for General Description: "American Portraiture: Costumes and Backdrops," DMA research document, n.d., Education files.
Rule written in order to reach some of the highlights of our Colonial Portrait collection even though some of them were made after Revolutionary War.
rules
Apply To
Objects
geography_ancestor_id
Equals
7012149 OR geography_ancestor_id equals 6000236
Apply To
Objects
department_id
Equals
6
source file
time_and_place-0016.xml.nores