*** American primitive art: Robert Peckham Raymond family children
Robert Peckham Portrait: The Raymond Family Children (about 1838)
Figure 1.-- Peckham's portrait of the Raymond children is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The children look like boys as they both have short hair with side parts. The props help to identify the gender. The younger child has dog pull toy, these pull toys were popular with boys. The older child has a doll which with children this age suggests a girl. In this case we do not have to guess as we know who the children are. Anne Elizabeth Raymond (1832- ) and Joseph Estabrook Raymond (1834- ) were the children of Elizabeth Kendall and Joseph Raymond of Royalston, Massachusetts. This portrait is notabke because it shows a girl with a side hair part. Nows countless photigrohic portaits as well as paintings show boys with side parts and girls with center parts. This image (we are thinking that the rendeing is likely accurate) shows that tghis convention while very important was not absolutely accurate.
Peckham's portrait of the Raymond children is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The children look like boys as they both have short hair with side parts. The props help to identify the gender. The younger chikd has dog pull toy, these pull toys were popularcwith boy. The older child has a doll which with children this age suggests a girl. In this case we do not have to guess as we know who the children are. Anne Elizabeth Raymond (1832- ) and Joseph Estabrook Raymond (1834- ) were the children of Elizabeth Kendall and Joseph Raymond of Royalston, Massachusetts. Their father was a businessman active in local affairs, serving as town selectman, assessor, clerk, and representative to the state legislature. The children both married, Anne to John Low Choate of Boston (1860) and Joseph to Charlotte Louise Marshall of Fitchburg (1861). Peckham's style is forceful, relying on intense, saturated color, direct gazes, and his characteristic emphasis on the delineation of the forehead and mouth. This is some often absent in primitive art. He constructs a detailed environment for the children, who are surrounded by their toys within the family parlor, a document of 19th century furnishings. A wonderful view of a prosperous 1830s home. Anne wears yellow low cut dress with a high waistline, and slightly decorated pantalettes. Joseph boy wears a loosely fited ruffled collared shirt with a dark jacket or tunic and plain pantalettes. The mWe are not sure what terms woukd have been used at the time. aterial is the difference between pntaklettes and pants. They would have been about 4 and 6 years old, if the dates given are correct. Peckham painted them a little older.
