Brother and Sister (Mary and Gerald Thayer)

Abbott Handerson Thayer, Brother and Sister (Mary and Gerald Thayer), 1889, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly, 1929.6.114
Copied Abbott Handerson Thayer, Brother and Sister (Mary and Gerald Thayer), 1889, oil on canvas, 36 1428 14 in. (9271.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly, 1929.6.114
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Artwork Details

Title
Brother and Sister (Mary and Gerald Thayer)
Date
1889
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
36 1428 14 in. (9271.9 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of John Gellatly
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Children
  • Portrait female — Thayer, Mary — child
  • Portrait group — family — siblings
  • Portrait male — Thayer, Gerald — knee length
  • Portrait male — Thayer, Gerald — child
  • Portrait female — Thayer, Mary — waist length
Object Number
1929.6.114

Artwork Description

This work portrays Abbott Thayer's children one year after their mother's hospitalization for "melancholia," or severe depression. Kate Thayer became physically ill while hospitalized, and Thayer wrote to a friend that her physical deterioration would not be so horrible "were her soul visible" (Anderson, Abbott Handerson Thayer, 1982). Thayer captured the sadness and worry of this difficult period in Mary's heavy-lidded, watery eyes and in Gerald’s searching expression. They look like a modern-day Madonna and Child. Their mother would live for two more years, but in this portrait it is as if Mary has already taken on her mother's role in the family. After Kate died, Thayer clung to his children as an emotional anchor, and he often depicted them as sacred figures.