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D2007-CMD-0065
Lady Reading in a Garden
D2007-CMD-0065

Lady Reading in a Garden

DateProbably 1800-1815
Attributed to
OriginAmerica, Virginia, Woodstock (probably)
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 44 3/4 x 52 1/8in. (113.7 x 132.4cm) and Framed: 52 7/8 x 45 7/8in.
Credit LineGift of Julia Davis Healy
Object number1965.101.1
DescriptionOriginal 2 1/2-inch, black-painted molded cyma recta frame with flat outer edge. Lady sitting in Grecian costume (pink dress) reading a book. At her feet stand two sheep, and a small grey deer with antlers stands to her right (the left side of the canvas). Her feet are bare. Beside her stands a rectangular stand with a basket of large flowers in it. The flowers include big red roses and some drooping trumpet-like flowers. Behind her stands the trunk of a tall pine tree which has evidently been broken off, for its top is missing and the branches remaining are small. To the right of the tree stands a tall huge lily, open on a stalk and smaller flowers grow on either side of the stalk. In the foreground, to the right of the sitter, is a brown dog and another a basket of flowers with a blue bonnet over it.Label TextAttribution of the painting to Davis is based mainly on family tradition, although some similarity can be noted between elements of the oil on canvas and the designs painted on two clockfaces produced by Davis either alone or in partnership with Jacob Fry (?-1814). For instance, the large buds in the basket on the plinth in the canvas work are quite like those used on the dial of a tall clock signed "Caleb Davis" on its face. A tall clock that bears a dial signed "Fry and Davis" also bears similar buds in its lower spandrels; at the top, it exhibits an oval painting of a shepherdess seated beneath a tree with two lambs at her feet. The techniques used in rendering this clockface vignette appear much looser than those used in the oil on canvas, but the rippled effect of the dress folds and the animals' fleshy hocks combined with thin lower legs are elements that compare well. A considerable difference in scale may account for some disparity in technique.
The source of Davis's design for the Folk Art Museum's large oil painting remains unidentified, and its symbolic meaning, if any, unknown.ProvenanceDescended in the family of the artist to AARFAM's donor, Mrs. Charles (Julia Davis) Healy, Princeton, NJ.