Artwork
Mother and Mary
Mother and Mary is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Edmund Charles Tarbell. It dates from 1922 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower right: Tarbell.22.
About this work
Technique & Style
The canvas remains the foundational medium for this composition, which entered the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.
Edmund Charles Tarbell's Mother and Mary, completed in 1922, is executed in oil paint on a canvas support. The work measures 112.1 cm in height and 127.5 cm in width. Classified as a painting, the piece utilizes the artist's characteristic handling of oil to depict its subjects.
The canvas remains the foundational medium for this composition, which entered the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1967.
History & Provenance
Painted in 1922, the work was acquired the following year by Elva A. Belcher of Stoughton, Massachusetts. After her death it passed to her daughter, Gertrude H. Belcher of Brockton, and remained in the Belcher family until 1967. That year it was given, through Miss Beatrice Monk and John Hill of Boston, to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., where it is accessioned as inventory number 1967.10.1 and remains in the permanent collection.
Context
Mother and Mary (1922) by Edmund Charles Tarbell exemplifies his mature portraiture style, characterized by restrained composition and nuanced psychological depth. The work entered the National Gallery of Art in 1967 through a gift from Miss Beatrice Monk and John Hill, following its bequest by Gertrude H. Belcher, daughter of its original purchaser Elva A. Belcher. Tarbell, a leading figure of the American Impressionist movement and instructor at the Museum School in Boston, developed a reputation for intimate, technically refined portraits that bridged nineteenth-century academic traditions and early modernist sensibilities. This painting reflects his enduring focus on domestic subjects rendered with luminous color and precise draftsmanship.
Legacy
The painting remains in the National Gallery of Art's collection, where it is studied as an example of early twentieth-century American portraiture and of Tarbell's role within American Impressionism and academic realism.
Overview
Created in 1922, Mother and Mary is an oil on canvas by American painter Edmund Charles Tarbell. The work presents an intimate domestic interior, illuminated by daylight that streams through expansive windows, and centers on a mother and her young daughter engaged in quiet, everyday tasks.
Subject & Meaning
The composition shows the mother seated on the right, carefully stitching a pink garment, while the child occupies a desk on the left, surrounded by scattered papers and a vase of blossoms. The scene conveys a tranquil, contemplative atmosphere, emphasizing the routine intimacy of mother‑daughter interaction.
Artist & collection
Artist
Edmund Charles Tarbell (April 26, 1862 – August 1, 1938) was an American Impressionist painter.
