Samuel Warren Holland, Aged Two Years

M. W. Hopkins, Samuel Warren Holland, Aged Two Years, 19th century, oil on wood panel, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.119
Copied M. W. Hopkins, Samuel Warren Holland, Aged Two Years, 19th century, oil on wood panel, 26 1822 18 in. (66.556.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.119
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Samuel Warren Holland, Aged Two Years
Artist
Attributed to M. W. Hopkins
Date
19th century
Dimensions
26 1822 18 in. (66.556.1 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on wood panel
Classifications
Keywords
  • Portrait male — Holland, Samuel Warren — child
Object Number
1986.65.119

Artwork Description

This image of a young boy has been attributed to the artist Milton Hopkins, who painted portraits in New York State and Ohio during the first half of the nineteenth century. We know little about the sitter, Samuel Holland, because there were several people of the same name living in the United States at that time. The artist painted a whip to show that the child was male, a necessary symbol in a period when boys wore skirts until they were five or six. The boy gazes directly at the viewer with large dark eyes that stand out against his pale skin and fair hair, and his fancy costume suggests he was a member of a wealthy household. Early in the nineteenth century, children often died in infancy, and parents commissioned portraits of their sons and daughters as keepsakes.