Jephthah's Return

DatePossibly 1812

Artist Betsy B. Lathrop (active ca. 1812)

MediumWatercolor on silk with gold-painted paper collage elements

DimensionsUnframed: 20 7/8 x 25 3/8in. (53 x 64.5cm) and Framed: 25 3/8 x 29 7/8in. (64.5 x 75.9cm)

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1939.401.1

Label TextThe existence of a very similar picture (AARFAM acc. no. 1983.401.1) suggests that the two pieces were executed as an academy exercise. Both illustrate Judges 11: 30-34, wherein the Gileadite Jephthah vows that, if the Lord will grant him victory over the Ammonites, then he will sacrifice whatever first emerges from his house to meet him on his return from war. His only child --- a daughter --- comes forth to greet him with timbrels and dances upon his return.
The Old Testament story must have been a popular subject with schoolgirl artists; in addition to the Folk Art Museum's two closely related works, three other versions have been recorded. None of the other three contains the particular building at upper left, which has been identified as a temple built in the 1730s at Stowe in Buckinghamshire, England. The Museum's two silk pictures show a temple quite similar to the English edifice as illustrated in B. Seeley's 1773 guide to Stowe, although it is possible that another view was used as a prototype.Inscription(s)In ink in script on a paper label once affixed to the backboard is "The work of ---Betsey Lathrope/in 1812 ---/Japhthah's, ---'Daughter came/out to meet him,'/Judges --- XI ---34, ---." Said to have been written in ink on the now missing backboard is "Painted by Betsy B. Lathrop. Given to M. A. Cornwell."Mark(s)Many if not all of the collage elements in the painting are gold paint over a paper bearing printed wording; although some of the lettering is legible through the paint, it is too fragmented to be meaningful and has not been transcribed.ProvenanceMary Cornwell or Cornwall, Quogue, Long Island, NY; Mrs. A. P. (Josephine H.) Fitch, Illahee Shop, Montauk Highway, Quogue, Long Island, NY; purchased from Fitch by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, whose early notes indicate that Cornwall or Cornwell was the artist's great-niece.