Child in Sunlight
August 1915
20th Century
25 1/8 in. x 21 in.
Willard Leroy Metcalf,
American,
(July 1, 1858–March 9, 1925)
Medium and Support:
oil on canvas
Credit Line:
Florence Griswold Museum; Gift of Mrs. Henriette Metcalf
Accession Number:
1979.7.3
Portrait of the artist's daughter, Rosalind, painted at Pleasure Beach in Waterford, Connecticut on a bright summer day. The girl is wearing a white dress. She is holding the edges of a floppy straw hat with both hands as if to prevent the wind from blowing it away. She has shoulder-length, curly brown hair. The background is 3/4 blue sky with ocean and beach grass.
This charming portrait dates to 1915, the subject bodly depicted against and impressionistic landscape as backdrop. One of Metcalf's earliest paintings, "Little Eddie" 1874-75, depicts a small girl grasping her hat in the same manner.