Woman Sewing by Thomas Charles Farrer, 1859. Graphite heightened with white gouache. Princeton University Art Museum (x1969-372). Size: 30.3 × 23.5 cm (11 15/16 × 9 1/4 in.) frame: 53 × 40.5 × 3.2 cm (20 7/8 × 15 15/16 × 1 1/4 in.) Credit: Gift of Professor Charles Ryskamp in memory of Mr. Gerard B. Lambert, Class of 1908. Signed and dated in graphite, lower left: [artist monogram] | 1859. Image and accompanying information downloaded for educational use and formatted for the Victorian Web by Jacqueline Banerjee.
Interpretation by the Art Museum
While living in New York City from 1857 to 1872, Farrer cofounded the Society for the Advancement of Truth in Art, which affirmed the aesthetic philosophy of the British Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood that emphasized the precise observation of unadorned nature. This guiding principle is evoked in Farrer’s meticulously executed domestic interior, featuring a woman sewing and conspicuously wearing a wedding ring. The reproduction of Raphael’s Madonna della Sedia hanging above the woman transfers the blessing of motherhood onto her. This inclusion, in addition to the grapes growing outside the window, gives an Italian flair to the drawing, which depicts an apartment in an immigrant neighborhood in New York City, possibly the residence of the cabinetmaker with whom Farrer lodged when he first arrived there.
Link to Related Material
Bibliography
Woman Sewing. Princeton University Art Museum. Web. 25 January 2023.
Created 25 January 2023