Mourning Locket for A. R.

Unidentified, Mourning Locket for A. R., ca. 1780, watercolor on ivory, sight 1 ⁵⁄₈ x ⁷⁄₈ in. (4.0 x 2.2 cm) lozenge, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Edmund Bury, 1938.7.1

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Artwork Details

Title: Mourning Locket for A. R.
Artist: Unidentified
Date: ca. 1780
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: sight 1 ⁵⁄₈ x ⁷⁄₈ in. (4.0 x 2.2 cm) lozenge
Credit Line: Gift of Edmund Bury
Mediums: watercolor
Mediums Description: watercolor on ivory
Classifications: Painting
Miniature
Subjects: Primitive — mourning
Landscape — tree — willow tree
Monument — tomb
Figure female — full length
State of being — emotion — sorrow
Object Number: 1938.7.1
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1938.7.1

Artwork Description

Miniature paintings memorializing a friend or family member grew popular in the nineteenth century when the death of Prince Albert sent Queen Victoria into deep mourning. A name and death date on a locket, pin, or ring marked the passing of a loved one, and artists sometimes mixed a lock of the deceased person’s hair in with the pigment. The paintings often showed the bereaved person next to a tomb or cinerary urn, as in Mourning Locket for A. R. and Mourning Ring for William Burnside, and sometimes included symbols of grieving such as a dove or weeping willow.