Memorial to Mary Long

Art Historical Context

Nestled within an exquisite gold marquise locket, Ramage's *Memorial to Mary Long*1794) is a watercolor miniature on ivory, measuring just 1 3/16 x 3/4 inches. This tiny American gem, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing, captures the delicate art of portrait miniatures, a cherished 18th-century tradition for personal remembrance. Scottish-born Ramage, a miniaturist active in New York and Philadelphia specialized in these intimate likenesses, often evoking deep emotion—here, the tags of "Sadness" and "Women" underscore its mournful tone. Painted on ivory, the medium lent a luminous, pearl-like glow ideal for watercolor's translucent layers, allowing Ramage to render fine details like soft facial features and expressive eyes in such a minuscule scale. Lockets like this were worn close to the heart as mourning jewelry, blending portraiture with personal grief during the early Federal period, when death memorials became sentimental keepsakes amid rising neoclassical tastes. This bequest from Charles Allen Munn in 1924 highlights its cultural role: a window into private American lives, where art consoled the bereaved and preserved loved ones' memory in wearable elegance. Visitors, imagine pinning this locket to your lapel—a quiet testament to enduring loss.

About the Artist

John Ramage · 1748–1842

Ireland ca. 1748–1802 Montreal