Child with Dog; Two Figures in Encounter; Two Figures and Child Attending to Dying Male [?]; Figure on Deathbed (from Sketchbook)
1810–20
![Child with Dog; Two Figures in Encounter; Two Figures and Child Attending to Dying Male [?]; Figure on Deathbed (from Sketchbook) by Thomas Sully](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ad/thumb/child-with-dog-two-figures-in-encounter-two-16353.webp)
Medium
Ink, wash, on paper
Dimensions
9 x 11 1/2 in. (22.9 x 29.2 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.182.18 verso
Tags
Art Historical Context
Thomas Sully's *Child with Dog; Two Figures Encounter; Two Figures and Attending to Dying Male [?]; Figure on Deathbed (from Sketchbook)*, created between 1810 and 1820, offers a poignant glimpse into the artist's private creative process. This intimate sheet of ink and wash on paper (9 x 11½ in.) features multiple studies: a tender moment of a child with a loyal dog, enigmatic encounters between figures, and somber scenes of deathbed vigils, possibly evoking family grief or mortality. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing, it reflects Sully's skill as a leading early Americ...
About the Artist
Thomas Sully · 1783–1872
Thomas Sully, born on June 19, 1783, in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, to actor parents Matthew Sully and Sarah Chester, emigrated with his family to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1792. Raised in a theatrical environment, young Thomas debuted as a tumbler at age 11 before discovering his artistic talent. He studied miniature painting with his brother Lawrence Sully, brother-in-law Jean Belzon...