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(AMERICAN INDIANS.) John Raphael Smith, engraver; after Wright. The Widow of an Indian Chief Watching the Arms of Her Deceas'd Husband.
Estimate:
$1,000 - $1,500
Passed
Live Auction
Printed & Manuscript Americana
Description
Description: (AMERICAN INDIANS.) John Raphael Smith, engraver; after Wright. The Widow of an Indian Chief Watching the Arms of Her Deceas'd Husband. Mezzotint, 17¾ x 21¼ inches; trimmed within platemark, mounted on early stiff paper, 1-inch closed tear in lower right corner, moderate toning. - London: J.R. Smith, 29 January 1789
Footnote: The first engraving of a much-beloved 1784 painting, usually known by the simpler title "Indian Widow," which is now in the Derby Museum in England. It was likely inspired by a passage on Muscogee and Chickasaw funerary rites in James Adair's 1775 "History of the American Indians," page 187: "If he was a war-leader, she is obliged for the first moon, to sit in the day-time under his mourning war-pole, which is decked with all his martial trophies, and must be heard to cry with bewailing notes. . . . They are allowed no shade, or shelter." A stormy coastline and raging volcano can be seen in the background. Perhaps the painting could also be read as an allegory for Great Britain's recent loss of its American colonies.
Footnote: The first engraving of a much-beloved 1784 painting, usually known by the simpler title "Indian Widow," which is now in the Derby Museum in England. It was likely inspired by a passage on Muscogee and Chickasaw funerary rites in James Adair's 1775 "History of the American Indians," page 187: "If he was a war-leader, she is obliged for the first moon, to sit in the day-time under his mourning war-pole, which is decked with all his martial trophies, and must be heard to cry with bewailing notes. . . . They are allowed no shade, or shelter." A stormy coastline and raging volcano can be seen in the background. Perhaps the painting could also be read as an allegory for Great Britain's recent loss of its American colonies.