Name/Title
Lucy Ainsworth CookeEntry/Object ID
1936.7.2Description
Portrait showing a woman with dark hair and a black dress. The folk-style portrait shows a woman with brown hair, parted in the center and pulled into looped braids in the back. She has brown eyes, a straight nose, a pointed chin, and is shown with a very slight smile. She is wearing a gold-toned beaded necklace, and the neckline of her dress is trimmed in white lace with a gold brooch at the center. Her black dress is pleated outward from the center, forming a large V that is held in place at the waist. The background of the painting is brown.Type of Painting
EaselArtwork Details
Medium
OilSubject Person
Raddin, Lucy Ainsworth Cooke (1819-1895)Context
Lucy A. Cooke, or Sleeping Lucy, was a famous clairvoyant from Calais, VT.Acquisition
Accession
1936.7Source or Donor
Greenbank, Julia Ainsworth Cook (1850-1929)Credit Line
Gift of Julia Cooke GreenbankMade/Created
Date made
circa 1846Place
State/Province
VermontCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
PortraitNomenclature Primary Object Term
PaintingNomenclature Primary Object Term
PictureNomenclature Class
ArtNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsDimensions
Dimension Description
Overall (unframed)Height
27-3/8 inWidth
20-7/8 inDimension Description
Overall (framed)Height
38-1/2 inWidth
34 inDepth
2-1/2 inRelationships
Related Places
Place
Town
CalaisCounty
Washington CountyState/Province
VermontCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaInterpretative Labels
Label
Lucy Ainsworth Cooke, ca. 1846
Vermont
Oil on canvas
Gift of Julia Cooke Greenbank, 1936.7.2
Born in the Vermont hill town of Calais, Lucy Ainsworth (1819-1895) lived during a period of great social, economic, and political change. Many Americans responded to those changes by turning to movement ranging from evangelical Protestantism and abolitionism to phrenology and spiritualism. Lucy found a ready clientele for her ability to diagnose physical ailments, find missing wallets, or help sheriffs solve mysteries by entering a trancelike sleep known as mesmerism. According to family tradition "Sleeping Lucy" developed her clairvoyant skills gradually and did not begin to heal people until after her marriage to Charles Cooke in 1847. The couple settled in Reading, where they worked as a team until his death in 1855 and then Lucy moved to Montpelier. Eventually Lucy remarried and moved to Boston, where she continued to practice as Dr. Lucy Cooke, treating patients and running a successful mail-order herbal business.
This portrait was probably done shortly after Lucy's first marriage (1846) since its match is a portrait of her husband, Charles Cooke. Though unknown, the artist skillfully captured Cooke's intensity in her eyes.