Portrait of the Downer Children
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Josephine Regar Schlagel
Accession Number
2000.8
Tags
About this artwork
Peter Frederick Rothermel created an imaginary landscape of lush vegetation and clouds behind the Downer children, who pose as stiffly as statues. A medieval castle looms in the distance behind Dora, while Amy leans against a stone pedestal, holding her baby brother, Adolph. The white rabbit, a gentle creature of nature, symbolizes the children’s own natural innocence. Captain George Downer and his wife commissioned Rothermel to paint this portrait when he was the director of the Pennsylvania Ac...
About the Artist
Peter Frederick Rothermel (American|American|American) · 1806 |1817 |1800 –1873 |1895 |1900
American, Hingham, Massachsetts 1806–1873 Boston, Massachusetts|American, Nescopeck, Pennsylvania 1817–1895 Linfield, Pennsylvania|Boston, Massachusetss