A view taken from the artist's bedroom window at the rectory, Charmouth, Dorset, date unknown

A view taken from the artist's bedroom window at the rectory, Charmouth, Dorset, date unknown

Medium pencil and watercolor

Size 8 x 6.3 in. / 20.3 x 15.9 cm.

Diana Sperling (British, 1791-1862)

Professionalism and Amateurism

were expressed and defined through

Media, Form, Genre, and Subject Matter

What were the hierarchies…?

hierarchy of genres

• history painting

• genre painting (petit genre)

• portraits

(and self-portraits)

• landscapes

• still-lifes

Eugene Delacroix,

Liberty Leading the People, 1830

A view taken from the artist's bedroom window at the rectory, Charmouth, Dorset, date unknown

Medium pencil and watercolor

Size 8 x 6.3 in. / 20.3 x 15.9 cm.

Diana Sperling (British, 1791-1862)

Amateur Artists

“Young ladies should be taught that usefulness is happiness and that all other things are but incidental.”

Lydia Marie Child, The American Frugal Housewife, 1832

A view taken from the artist's bedroom window at the rectory, Charmouth, Dorset, date unknown

Medium pencil and watercolor

Size 8 x 6.3 in. / 20.3 x 15.9 cm.

Diana Sperling (British, 1791-1862)

Observation and re-production (mimesis)

vs.

Thought and original production

“Mrs. Hurst dancing. Sept. 17 1816.”

“Walking through the mud: Nov. 2nd, 1816, Tickford – Dinner waiting at a neighbor’s house”

Diana Sperling

Lady Gordon (née Julia Isabella Levina Bennet, British, 1775-1867)

In the garden of the Château de Wilmont on the Meuse (1829)

Cottage at Wigmore, Kent,  1803 

Lovers in a BowerWatercolor and graphite on paper

Mary Ann Willson (American, active 1800–1825)

Three Angel Heads15 15/16 x 12 15/16 in., Watercolor, pen and black ink, graphite pencil on paper

“Angels now are hovering round us

Unprocev’d they mix the throng

Wondering at the love that crowned us

Glad to joyn the holy song”

Professional artists (artisans?)

Decorative or Applied Arts:

Media, forms and genres associated with consumerism, popular culture, and decoration

• Ceramics• Textiles/embroidery• Illustrations

The Mississippi in Time of Peace, 1865

The Mississippi in Time of War, 1862

Fanny Palmer (American 1812–1876)

Produced for: Currier and Ives, Lithographic Firm

American Country Life, May Morning, 1855, 16 3/4 x 23 7/8 in.

Fanny Palmer, Yosemite Valley-California. 'The Bridal Veil' Fall, Currier & Ives, 1866. 17 1/2 x 25 5/8 in.

Professional artists

Decorative or Illustrative Arts

Vs.

Fine or High Art

• Oil painting

• Sculpture

Sarah Miriam Peale [1800-1885]

Margaretta Angelica Peale [1795-1882]

James Peale (younger brother to Charles)

Had 6 children, 3 of whom became professional artists:

Charles Wilson Peale

Had 17 children, several of whom became professional artists.

Anna Claypoole Peale [1791-1878]

Still Life, 1811-1819

Anna Claypoole Peale

Portraits of unidentified women, watercolor on ivory,

c. 1818, approx. 3 x 2 1/2 in.

Portrait of Andrew Jackson, 1819, Watercolor on Ivory,

3 x 2 1/2 in.

Still-Life with Watermelon and Peaches, 1828

Margaretta Angelica Peale

Catalogue: A Deception (after Raphaelle Peale), 

1813,

oil on board, 9 x 12.5 in.

Portrait of Mrs. William Crane,1840

Sarah Miriam Peale

Lilly Martin Spencer, We Both Must Fade (Mrs. Fithian), 1869, 72 x 53 3/4 in.

Sarah Miriam Peale, Portrait of Mrs. William Crane,1840

Lilly Martin Spencer

We Both Must Fade (Mrs. Fithian), 1869, 72 x 53 3/4 in.

Conversation Piece, ca. 1851–52 28 1/4 x 22 5/8 in.

Peeling Onions, 1852, 36 in. x 29 in

Young Husband, First Marketing,

1854, 29.5 x 24.75 in.

Young Wife, First Stew, 1855

hierarchy of genres

• history painting

• genre painting (petit genre)

• portraits

• landscapes

• still-lifes

Death Of Cenchirias, Son Of Neptune, Oil on canvas, 81 1/4 x 100 1/8 inches

Sophie Rude [French, 1797-1867]

END