THE WIDOW OF AN INDIAN CHIEF WATCHING THE ARMS OF HER DECEASED HUSBAND [caption title]
1802 · London
by [Smith, John Raphael
London: I.R. Smith, 1802. Handcolored mezzotint, 17 1/2 x 19 inches. Small tear in lower margin, slightly affecting image and caption. Minor edge wear and dust soiling. Mounted on heavy card. Fair only. Archivally matted, protected with mylar sheet. Later issue, after the first of 1789. A striking mezzotint, engraved by J.R. Smith after a 1785 painting by Joseph Wright, showing an Indian woman looking out over a serene ocean while her deceased husband's tomahawk, war club, and quiver hang above her on a dead tree. In the background a steaming volcano and thunderclouds complete the pastoral scene. When the painting was first exhibited in 1785, this description accompanied it:
"This picture is founded on the custom which prevails among the savage tribes of America, where the widow of an eminent warrior is used to sit the whole day, during the first moon after his death, under a rude kind of trophy, formed by a tree lopped and painted; on which the weapons and martial habiliments of the dead are suspended. She remains in this situation without shelter, and perseveres in her mournful duty at the hazard of her own life from the inclemencies of the weather."
Though Wright never travelled to America, he depended heavily on James Adair's HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS... (1775) for anthropological information for this painting. The original remains at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Quite rare. Not on OCLC (Inventory #: WRCAM32884)
"This picture is founded on the custom which prevails among the savage tribes of America, where the widow of an eminent warrior is used to sit the whole day, during the first moon after his death, under a rude kind of trophy, formed by a tree lopped and painted; on which the weapons and martial habiliments of the dead are suspended. She remains in this situation without shelter, and perseveres in her mournful duty at the hazard of her own life from the inclemencies of the weather."
Though Wright never travelled to America, he depended heavily on James Adair's HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS... (1775) for anthropological information for this painting. The original remains at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Quite rare. Not on OCLC (Inventory #: WRCAM32884)