Two Children (from Sketchbook)
ca. 1838 and after
Medium
Graphite on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
6 5/8 x 8 in. (16.8 x 20.3 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Sheila and Richard J. Schwartz Fund, 1987
Accession Number
1987.196.3hh verso
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the tranquil world of 19th-century American sketchbooks, Francis William Edmonds captures everyday innocence with "Two Children (from Sketchbook)," dated around 1838 and possibly refined later. This intimate graphite drawing on off-white wove paper just 6 5/8 x 8 inches, revealing the artist's keen eye for childhood simplicity amid the bustling era of Jacksonian America. Edmonds, a New York banker and genre painter associated with the National Academy of Design, often drew inspiration from Dutch masters, blending realism with tender domestic scenes. The choice of graphite on wove paper—a s...
About the Artist
Francis William Edmonds · 1806–1863
Francis William Edmonds, born on November 22, 1806, in Hudson, New York, into a prominent Quaker family as the seventh child of storekeeper and public servant Samuel Edmonds and Lydia Worth Edmonds, displayed remarkable artistic talent from youth. After Quaker schooling and farm work, he entered banking in 1823 as a clerk at the Tradesmen's Bank in New York City under his uncle Gorham Worth, a pat...