Five Children of the Budd Family

c. 1818

American 19th Century

Associated Names
American 19th Century

Artist

This painting shows five children in a room. All the children have pale skin, rosy cheeks, and short blond hair. In the center, one child is seated on a yellow chair holding an open book. This child is wearing a blue dress with two gold necklaces. On the left, another child in a red one-piece garment holds the edge of the chair. A third child stands behind the chair, wearing a blue one-piece garment over a yellow shirt. Their hand is on the shoulder of the fourth child, who stands on the right, wearing an orange one-piece garment. This child's hand is on the head of the fifth child, who sits by the chair. This child wears a white dress and holds a small cat in their lap. The cat's fur is a mix of white, gray, and orange. The children stand in front of a green background, with a patterned red-and-green carpet underfoot.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Recorded as from Pennsylvania. Descended through the Budd and Hull families to Blanche Hull. Sold to (William S. Bowers, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania), by whom sold in 1954 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch;[1] gift to NGA, 1959.
[1] A letter to Colonel Garbisch of 7 November 1954 from the dealer William S. Bowers (in NGA curatorial files), states that the painting was brought by a Mary Budd from Lancaster to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in about 1880. This letter and one from Bowers to William Campbell of 6 May 1957, indicate that this Mary was the daughter of Charles Budd (1822-1880), Samuel Woolston Budd's tenth child (not depicted in the portrait). Bowers states that the last Budd who owned the portrait, apparently a child of Mary Budd, married a Hull and died in 1914. The portrait was then passed down through the Hull family to Blanche Hull, the last of its second generation. Bowers purchased the portrait from Blanche Hull.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1957

  • American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Part II, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1957, no. 44.

1983

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassadors Louis Arthur Tambs and Charles A. Gillespie, U.S. Embassy residence, Bogotà, Colombia, 1983-1986.

1988

  • A Little Bestiary: Naive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, 1988, no catalogue.

Bibliography

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 134, repro.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 275, repro.

1992

  • Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 478-481, repro. 479.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 401, repro.

Inscriptions

on book page: 140 / JUVENILE TALES

Wikidata ID

Q20184088

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