Ella Luthera Dewey Pitkin

Painting

-

Vermont Historical Society

Name/Title

Ella Luthera Dewey Pitkin

Entry/Object ID

2011.13.2

Description

Portrait showing a young woman wearing a white lace dress embellished with a bouquet of brightly-colored flowers. The dress has a high, ruffled lace collar with a rose bud and stem pinned at the center. The translucent sleeves are gathered into poofs. A posy of pink and white flowers with green foliage is pinned to her chest at center. She is holding a lace shawl. Her hair is swept back from her face and held in a simple style.

Type of Painting

Easel

Artwork Details

Medium

Oil

Subject Person

Pitkin, Ella Luthera Dewey (1850-1879)

Acquisition

Accession

2011.13

Source or Donor

Buxton, J. Brooks (1934-2018)

Acquisition Method

Gift

Made/Created

Artist

Wood, Thomas Waterman (1823-1903)

Date made

1883

Place

City

Montpelier

County

Washington County

State/Province

Vermont

Country

United States of America

Continent

North America

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Portrait

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Painting

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Picture

Nomenclature Class

Art

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Overall (framed)

Height

34-1/2 in

Width

29-5/8 in

Dimension Description

Overall (unframed)

Height

29-1/4 in

Width

24-1/4 in

Interpretative Labels

Label

Ella Luthera Dewey Pitkin, 1883 Thomas Waterman Wood (1823-1903) Montpelier, VT Oil on canvas Gift of J. Brooks Buxton, #A-945 Ella Luthera Dewey Pitkin (1850-1879) was the second daughter of Charles and Betsy Tarbox Dewey and granddaughter of Julius Dewey. She married Carrol Pitkin in 1873 but died young in 1879. This portrait is one of two commissioned by the family from Thomas Waterman Wood after her death. Thomas W. Wood is arguably Montpelier's most famous artist. The son of a cabinet maker, he was largely self-taught, yet rose to the highest ranks of genre painters in the united states.