Object Details
- Luce Center Label
- Edmonia Lewis often carved portraits of her patrons, either for a commission or as an expression of thanks. This piece depicts the poet Anna Quincy Waterston who, with her husband Reverend Robert C. Waterston, helped Lewis raise the money to pay for the first marbles she carved in Rome. The sculpture shows an elegant woman with a composed expression and a hint of a smile. The elaborate hairstyle and decorative clothing suggest a lady of wealth and importance in nineteenth-century society.
- Luce Object Quote
- "Tis fitting that a daughter of the raceWhose chains are breaking should receive a giftSo rare as genius. Neither power nor place,Fashion or wealth, pride, custom, caste nor hueCan arrogantly claim what God doth liftAbove these chances, and bestows on few."Excerpt from "Edmonia Lewis," a poem by Anna Quincy Waterston, 1864
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Artist
- Edmonia Lewis, born Greenbush (now Rensselaer), NY 1844-died London, England 1907
- Sitter
- Anna Quincy Waterston
- Date
- ca. 1866
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr. Richard Frates
- Medium
- carved marble
- Dimensions
- 11 7/8 x 7 1/4 x 5 1/8 in. (30.2 x 18.5 x 12.9 cm.)
- Type
- Sculpture
