Hermia and Helena

Washington Allston, Hermia and Helena, before 1818, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program and made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, the Catherine Walden Myer Fund, and the National Institute, 1990.21
Washington Allston, Hermia and Helena, before 1818, oil on canvas, 30 3825 14 in. (77.264.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program and made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, the Catherine Walden Myer Fund, and the National Institute, 1990.21
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Artwork Details

Title
Hermia and Helena
Date
before 1818
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
30 3825 14 in. (77.264.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program and made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, the Catherine Walden Myer Fund, and the National Institute
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group — female
  • Recreation — leisure — reading
  • Landscape — waterfall
  • Literature — Shakespeare — Midsummer Night’s Dream
  • Portrait female — Hermia
  • Portrait female — Helena
Object Number
1990.21

Artwork Description

Washington Allston said that this painting represented "the singleness and unity of friendship." He posed the two women so that they suggest one figure, and they read from a shared book. In Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream, Helena eloquently describes her friendship with Hermia in the third act: "So we grew together, / Like to a double cherry . . . / Two lovely berries moulded on one stem."

Like many Americans of his time, Allston was educated in the classics. He painted Hermia and Helena in England when the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was reviving Shakespeare's plays. A friend of Allston's, Coleridge felt that Shakespeare expressed human sentiment perfectly.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006

Works by this artist (3 items)

Sidney Goodman, Bride Profile, 1962, charcoal on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1971.57
Bride Profile
Date1962
charcoal on paper
Not on view
Sidney Goodman, Courtyard, 1969, etching on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1973.179
Courtyard
Date1969
etching on paper
Not on view
Sidney Goodman, Elkins Park View, 1971, charcoal and conte crayon on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.36, © 1971, Sidney Goodman
Elkins Park View
Date1971
charcoal and conte crayon on paper
Not on view

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      Smithsonian American Art Museum Director Elizabeth Broun shares her thoughts about personal favorites, Hermia and Helena, from the museum collection.

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