Little Girl Holding Apple
c. 1840
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 57.2 x 46.7 cm (22 1/2 x 18 3/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch
Accession Number
1978.80.10
Art Historical Context
"Little Girl Holding Apple" is a charming oil on canvas portrait painted around 1840 by Sturtevant J. Hamblin. Measuring roughly 22½ by 18⅜ inches, the work depicts a young child in a straightforward pose, gently cradling an apple. Hamblin, an American artist active in the mid-nineteenth century, worked in a direct, unadorned style typical of itinerant portrait painters of his era. Oil on canvas allowed Hamblin to achieve soft modeling and subtle color gradations, giving the figure a lifelike presence within a modest format. Such intimate child portraits were popular in American homes of the ...