The Bashful Cousin

c. 1841-1842

Francis William Edmonds

Associated Names
Francis William Edmonds
Painter, American, 1806 - 1863
In the bottom left corner of this painting, a dog stands at an open door, through which light streams into a dark house. On the edge of the doorway, a man and a woman are standing, their arms linked. The man's body is turned towards the doorway, while the woman gestures back into the room. Both of them have light skin, and the man has blond hair while the woman has dark hair. He wears a tan jacket over a pink vest and white pants, while she wears a brown blouse and a bright red skirt with a blue cloth tied around her waist and a black scarf. To the right, a table covered in a white cloth is set with a tea service and two empty wooden chairs. A man and a woman sit on the right of the table, the man reading a newspaper and the woman looking towards him, pointing at the couple in the door. Both of these people also have light skin, and the man has gray hair while the woman wears a white bonnet. In the background behind the table, an archway leads to another room. A person with dark skin stands in the doorway, looking out at the table, holding a roast chicken on a plate. This person wears a red bonnet and a green apron. The walls and floor of the room are brown, with some areas of light and some of shadow.

Media Options

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Scenes detailing middle-class manners and mores became prevalent in American art and literature toward the middle of the nineteenth century, and Francis Edmonds' amusing vignette regarding matrimonial intent successfully combines these two avenues of expression. The painting is loosely based on James Kirke Paulding's "The Dutchman's Fireside," a popular tale set in mid-eighteenth-century New York. The story deals with the relationship between a shy, ungainly bachelor, Sybrandt Westbrook, and his distant cousin, Catalina Vancour. As the young woman implores her diffident caller to stay for tea, her mother gestures towards the couple. She is either soliciting her husband's help in persuading the young man to remain, or -- in the hope of securing an even better match for her daughter -- attempting to enlist his aid in discouraging their daughter's affections for this provincial suitor. Mr. Vancour pointedly ignores his wife, far too absorbed in worldly affairs to concern himself with matters of etiquette or romance. In the background, the bemused family servant, Aunt Nantje, wisely surveys the scene.

The precise detailing of the structured, stage-like space, the theatrical use of light, the choice of brightly colored costumes, and the humorous portrayal of everyday life all reflect the influence of the seventeenth-century Dutch genre paintings that had impressed Edmonds greatly during his travels on the Continent.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I, pages 190-196, which is available as a free PDF at https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-19th-century-part-1.pdf

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Frederick Sturges, Jr.

  • Dimensions

    overall: 63.2 x 76 cm (24 7/8 x 29 15/16 in.)
    framed: 95.9 x 108.6 cm (37 3/4 x 42 3/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1978.6.4

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Purchased c. 1841-1842 from the artist by Jonathan Sturges [1802-1874], New York, and Fairfield, Connecticut; his son, Frederick Sturges [1833-1917], New York, and Fairfield, Connecticut; his son, Frederick Sturges, Jr. [1874-1977], Fairfield, Connecticut;[1] gift 1978 to NGA.

[1] Letter of 18 January 1966 from Frederick Sturges, Jr. (in NGA curatorial files), provides information on the descent of the painting within the Sturges family.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1842

  • Seventeenth Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, 1842, no. 214.

1844

  • Exhibition of the New-York Gallery of the Fine Arts, New York, 1844-1845, no. 52.

1988

  • Francis W. Edmonds: American Master in the Dutch Tradition, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; New-York Historical Society, 1988, unnumbered catalogue, pl. 5.

Bibliography

1842

  • "The National Academy." Brother Jonathan 2 (June 1842): 184.

  • "National Academy--Cutting Criticisms." New York Herald (16 June 1842).

  • "Editor's Table." Knickerbocker 19 (June 1842): 591.

1845

  • Catalogue of the Exhibition of the New-York Gallery of Fine Arts, New York, 1845: 135.

  • Lanman, Charles. Letters from a Landscape Painter. Boston, 1845: 240-241.

1847

  • Tuckerman, Henry T. Artist-Life: or, Sketches of American Painters. New York, 1847: 160.

1856

  • "Our Private Collections, No. II." The Crayon 3 (February 1856): 57-58.

1865

  • Cummings, Thomas S. Historic Annals of the National Academy of Design (1825-1863). Philadelphia, 1865. Reprint. New York, 1965: 141, 320.

1867

  • Tuckerman 1867, 411, 413-414, 627, as by John W. Edmonds.

1884

  • Lanman, Charles. "Noted Amateur Painters. Artistic Recollections by Charles Lanman." Art Union 1 (August/September 1884): 158-159.

1949

  • Larkin, Oliver W. Art and Life in America. New York, 1949: 220.

1966

  • Lawall, David B. "Asher Brown Durand: His Art and Art Theory in Relation to this Times." 4 vols. Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1966: 3:77, no. 88, as Rustic Lovers or the Country Cousin by Durand.

  • Miller, Lillian B. Patrons and Patriotism: The Encouragement of the Fine Arts in the United States, 1700-1860. Chicago, 1966: 157.

1970

  • Mann, Maybelle. "Francis William Edmonds: Mammon and Art." The American Art Journal 2 (Fall 1970): 99.

1974

  • Mann, Maybelle. "Humor and Philosophy in the Paintings of Francis William Edmonds." Antiques 106 (November 1974): 866.

1977

  • Mann, Maybelle. Francis William Edmonds: Mammon and Art. New York, 1977: 88, 91-92.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 152, repro.

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 14, 70, no. 16, color repro.

1981

  • Edmonds, Francis W. "'The Leading Incidents & Dates of My Life': An Autobiographical Essay by Francis W. Edmonds." The American Art Journal 13 (Autumn 1981): 10.

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 81-82, repro. 83.

1982

  • Clark, Henry Nichols Blake. "A Fresh Look at the Art of Francis W. Edmonds: Dutch Sources and American Meanings." The American Art Journal 14 (Summer 1982): 78, 80, 82, 85-86, fig. 13.

  • Clark, Henry Nichols Blake. "The Impact of Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Genre Painting on American Genre Painting, 1800-1865." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Delaware, Newark, 1982: 218-223, 228-229, 238, fig. 25.

1988

  • Clark, Henry Nichols Blake. Francis W. Edmonds: American Master in the Dutch Tradition. Exh. cat. Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; New-York Historical Society. Washington, D.C., 1988: 30, 67-71, 77, 93, 94, 97, 159, pl. 5.

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 80, no. 17, color repro.

1989

  • Burns, Sarah Lea. Review of Henry Nichols Blake Clark, Francis W. Edmonds: American Master in the Dutch Tradition, Exh. cat. In Winterthur Portfolio 24 (Winter 1989): 278.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 170, repro.

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 232, repro.

1995

  • Morgan, Jo-Ann. "Mammy the Huckster: Selling the Old South for the New Century." American Art 9 (Spring 1995): 90-91, color repro.

1996

  • Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 190-196, color repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20186901

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