George Wesley Bellows
The Widow (Eleanor “Fanny” Smith Daggett)
1916
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George Wesley Bellows
The Widow (Eleanor “Fanny” Smith Daggett)
1916
Physical Qualities
Oil on wood panel, Unframed: 40 × 32 in. (101.6 × 81.3 cm.)
Credit Line
W. Clagett Emory Bequest Fund, in Memory of his Parents, William H. Emory of A and Martha B. Emory; and Fanny B. Thalheimer Memorial Fund
Object Number
1964.46
Better known today for landscapes and sporting scenes, Bellows was also an accomplished portraitist. He carefully studied the work of European old masters before undertaking his own images, often of family members. Here, he presents his aunt, Eleanor Daggett, in a large format using a rich, somber color scheme. Like Rembrandt long before him, Bellows sympathetically explores the effects of aging, reinforcing the viewer's sense of inevitable change by choosing a generic title, "The Widow."
The Baltimore Museum of Art, by purchase 1964; H.V. Allison & Co., New York; estate of Emma S. Bellows, 1959; Emma S. Bellows, his widow, 1945; estate of the artist
Link Benesch Reinstall (Spring 2008)
"Accessions," "The Art Quarterly," 27:1-2, 1965, p. 124, ill.
Diana F. Johnson, "Portraits by Eakins and Bellows," "The Burlington Magazine," 108:762, 1966, pp. 479-80, ill. p. 481, fig. 53.
K. R. Greenfield, "The Museum: Its First Half Century," "Annual I," Baltimore Museum of Art, 1955, ill. p. 38.
"Baltimore Museum of Art News," 29:1-2, 1967, ill. p. 43.
Margaret C. S. Christman, "Portraits by George Bellows," Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981, p. 23.
Marjorie B. Searl and Ronald Netsky, "Leaving for the Country: George Bellows at Woodstock," Rochester: Memorial Art Gallery, 2003, fig. 16, p. 22, ill.
Marjorie B. Searl and Ronald Nesky, 'Leaving for the Country: George Bellows At Woodstock.' New York: Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, 2003 pg 22, ill.
Inscribed: Recto: upper right, "Geo Bellows" Verso: in blue paint, "The Widow"
