Abbott H. Thayer (American, 1849–1921). <em>My Children</em>, ca. 1896–1910. Oil on canvas, 48 1/16 x 60 3/8 in. (122.1 x 153.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 68.158.2 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 68.158.2_SL1.jpg)

Abbott H. Thayer (American, 1849–1921). My Children, ca. 1896–1910. Oil on canvas, 48 1/16 x 60 3/8 in. (122.1 x 153.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 68.158.2 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 68.158.2_SL1.jpg)

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

This picture is in an odd shaped frame. Where was it originally? It looks like it was a headboard for a bed, is that right?

Abbott H. Thayer designed that frame for the painting, so it's the original. It's made in a revival style imitating the arts of the Italian Renaissance, a period that Thayer admired. Thayer based this work on a section of a larger painting that you can now see at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C.

Thayer always considered this a painting in its own right, although its unfinished look and the unusual shape of the frame do make people ask us that question from time to time!

My Children

Abbott H. Thayer

American Art

Although Abbott Handerson Thayer's children (Gladys, Mary, and Gerald, left to right) modeled for this painting, it does not look like a standard portrait, and the children's actual identities may have little to do with Thayer's overall aims for the work. The painting was not intended to convey a particular religious content, but its composition and elaborate frame recall Italian Renaissance altarpieces showing the Virgin Mary with saints. Other elements such as the laurel wreath in Mary's hands, her classicized drapery, and the phantom wings formed by the contours of the foliage against the sky align her with the ancient Greek goddess Athena-Nike (a winged figure representing victory). In the end, this image, so filled with allusions to the art of the past, presents Thayer's vision of the human spirit at its noblest: the expression of love, strength, and beauty embodied in the ideal and eternal feminine.

ARTIST Abbott H. Thayer, American, 1849–1921

MEDIUM Oil on canvas

DATES ca. 1896–1910

DIMENSIONS 48 1/16 x 60 3/8 in. (122.1 x 153.3 cm) frame: 67 1/8 x 79 x 6 in. (170.5 x 200.7 x 15.2 cm) (show scale)

INSCRIPTIONS Inscribed upper right: "Painted By Me / Abbott H. Thayer / about 1900 / Finished Dec. 1, 1910 / or rather touched again"

COLLECTIONS American Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 68.158.2

CREDIT LINE Dick S. Ramsay Fund

EXHIBITIONS

American Identities: A New Look

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Abbott H. Thayer (American, 1849–1921). My Children, ca. 1896–1910. Oil on canvas, 48 1/16 x 60 3/8 in. (122.1 x 153.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 68.158.2 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 68.158.2_SL1.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 68.158.2_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT No known copyright restrictions

This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

This picture is in an odd shaped frame. Where was it originally? It looks like it was a headboard for a bed, is that right?

Thayer always considered this a painting in its own right, although its unfinished look and the unusual shape of the frame do make people ask us that question from time to time!

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My Children

Abbott H. Thayer

American Art

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American Art

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