Artwork
Girl of the Bangs-Phelps Family
Girl of the Bangs-Phelps Family is an oil painting by the American Folk Art artist Erastus Salisbury Field. It dates from 1848 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work portrays a young girl clutching a book, a visual cue that links the sitter to ideas of learning and domestic virtue in mid‑nineteenth‑century America.
The work portrays a young girl clutching a book, a visual cue that links the sitter to ideas of learning and domestic virtue in mid‑nineteenth‑century America. The composition follows conventional portrait conventions of the period, emphasizing the sitter’s respectable status within the Bangs‑Phelps household. By placing a book in the child’s hands, the artist suggests an association with education and moral instruction, themes commonly invoked in family portraits to underscore the importance of character formation.
The painting’s inclusion in The American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art underscores its significance as an example of early American genre portraiture that blends realistic likeness with symbolic narrative.
Technique & Style
Girl of the Bangs‑Phelps Family is executed in oil on canvas, employing the conventional oil‑paint medium and a stretched canvas support typical of mid‑nineteenth‑century American portraiture. Field’s brushwork renders fine detail in the sitter’s facial features and the textures of the book she holds, while the muted palette and soft modeling create a realistic yet intimate atmosphere. The composition is tightly framed, emphasizing the subject’s gaze and the linear elements of the book, reflecting the formal conventions of portrait genre.
The work measures 149.2 cm in height and 76.8 cm in width, as recorded in the museum’s catalog. Its present condition is not documented in the available records.
History & Provenance
The painting titled Girl of the Bangs-Phelps Family was created in 1848 by Erastus Salisbury Field as an oil on canvas portrait, originally intended as a likeness of a young girl holding a book. It entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains on view in The American Wing. The work’s authorship and date are documented in both the museum’s catalogue entry and its Wikidata record, which also specify its dimensions and material composition. No additional commission details are recorded in the available sources.
Girl of the Bangs-Phelps Family (1848) by Erastus Salisbury Field is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, classified within The American Wing. The painting, executed in oil on canvas, measures 149.2 cm in height by 76.8 cm in width. No specific accession number, acquisition date, or details of past exhibitions are recorded in the available sources.
Overview
Erastus Salisbury Field's Girl of the Bangs-Phelps Family, an oil on canvas from approximately 1848, presents a young girl holding a book. This work embodies the characteristics of American folk art from the mid-19th century, reflecting the artist's direct approach to portraiture. It offers insight into the visual culture of the period and Field's contribution to regional artistic practices.
Context
Active primarily in Massachusetts, Erastus Salisbury Field was a prominent painter of portraits and historical subjects within the American folk art tradition. Created around 1848, this painting illustrates the demand for individualized likenesses among families during the era. Such works served as significant personal and familial documents, reflecting the cultural importance of visual representation in the mid-19th century.
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