An early trigger warning

[mme_hardy]

 In 1772, Charles Willson Peale's daughter Margaret died of smallpox.  He painted a memorial portrait of her corpse lying on a pillow, prepared for burial.   In 1776 Peale expanded the portrait, adding his wife, Rachel, weeping over the baby.   The revised portrait was called "Mrs. Peale lamenting the death of her child", or alternatively "Rachel Weeping", an allusion to Matthew 2:18: "In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."   

From the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which now owns the work:

 In 1782 Peale advertised Mrs. Peale Lamenting the Death of Her Child as a feature of his new painting room but sequestered it behind a curtain with the warning: "Before you draw this curtain Consider whether you will afflict a Mother or Father who has lost a Child."

 

 

The painting.

Comments

[lexin]

Strange painting - did you notice how the child's arms are tied?

[laurashapiro]

Neat!

[sovay]

He painted a memorial portrait of her corpse lying on a pillow, prepared for burial.

What interests me most about the portrait is that it clearly is of a corpse. There is no effort to depict Margaret as "just sleeping," as in a contemporary open-casket funeral. Her arms are bound in place; her jaw is tied up to prevent her mouth from dropping open. Her skin color is sallow and decomposing. She doesn't look like she might open her eyes at any second. She looks like she'll be buried soon. (As a result, I find it less disturbing than the artificial sleep of contemporary open-casket funerals, but I get how it would be upsetting to other people, especially people at the time who had seen their own children in similar states.)

[recessional]

That's honestly very thoughtful of him.

Also that painting is oddly affecting - like moreso than I'd expect it to be. Hmm.

[ironed_orchid]

And they all act like content warnings are a new thing...

[nineweaving]

No sign of smallpox, though.

Nine

[athenais]

Now I am super creeped out by this painting which I have seen before more than once.