George Wesley Bellows

The Widow (Eleanor “Fanny” Smith Daggett)

1916

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George Wesley Bellows

The Widow (Eleanor “Fanny” Smith Daggett)

George Wesley Bellows

The Widow (Eleanor “Fanny” Smith Daggett)

1916

Physical Qualities Oil on wood panel, Unframed: 40 × 32 in. (101.6 × 81.3 cm.)

Credit Line W. Clagett Emory Bequest Fund, in Memory of his Parents, William H. Emory of A and Martha B. Emory; and Fanny B. Thalheimer Memorial Fund

Object Number 1964.46

Better known today for landscapes and sporting scenes, Bellows was also an accomplished portraitist. He carefully studied the work of European old masters before undertaking his own images, often of family members. Here, he presents his aunt, Eleanor Daggett, in a large format using a rich, somber color scheme. Like Rembrandt long before him, Bellows sympathetically explores the effects of aging, reinforcing the viewer's sense of inevitable change by choosing a generic title, "The Widow."

The Baltimore Museum of Art, by purchase 1964; H.V. Allison & Co., New York; estate of Emma S. Bellows, 1959; Emma S. Bellows, his widow, 1945; estate of the artist

Luxembourg exhibition, Paris (per Margaret C. S. Christman)
Carson, Pierie & Scott, Chicago, 1917 (per Record Book)
Hiller, Tolerton, San Francisco, 1917 (per Record Book)
"George Bellows Exhibition of Lithographs and Paintings," Oakland Museum of Art, September 15-30, 1917
"Exhibition of Paintings by George Bellows," Gallery of Fine Arts and Art Association of Columbus, January 30-February 13, 1918, no. 6
"Collection of Paintings Selected from the Leading American Exhibitions of the Season of 1917-1918," The Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York, July-September 1918, no. 6
"Exhibition of Paintings by George Bellows," M. Knoedler & Co., New York, March 31-April 12, 1919, no. 1
"George Bellows," H. V. Allison & Co., New York, May 1-26, 1962, no. 12.
BMA, "American Painting 1900-1930," September 2-October 29, 1978
BMA, "Twentieth Century Painting from the Museum's Collection," March 14-April 5, 1981.

"Accessions," "The Art Quarterly," 27:1-2, 1965, p. 124, ill.

Diana F. Johnson, "Portraits by Eakins and Bellows," "The Burlington Magazine," 108:762, 1966, pp. 479-80, ill. p. 481, fig. 53.

K. R. Greenfield, "The Museum: Its First Half Century," "Annual I," Baltimore Museum of Art, 1955, ill. p. 38.

"Baltimore Museum of Art News," 29:1-2, 1967, ill. p. 43.

Margaret C. S. Christman, "Portraits by George Bellows," Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981, p. 23.

Marjorie B. Searl and Ronald Netsky, "Leaving for the Country: George Bellows at Woodstock," Rochester: Memorial Art Gallery, 2003, fig. 16, p. 22, ill.

Inscribed: Recto: upper right, "Geo Bellows" Verso: in blue paint, "The Widow"