Natalie
Artist
Frank Weston Benson
(American, 1862–1951)
Date1917
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 76.2 × 63.5 cm (30 × 25 in.)
framed (no buildout): 95.9 × 83.2 × 5.1 cm (37 3/4 × 32 3/4 × 2 in.)
framed (no buildout): 95.9 × 83.2 × 5.1 cm (37 3/4 × 32 3/4 × 2 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Desmond Callan, Mary H. Bailey, and Cristina E. Callan
Object number1996.106
Label TextThe young Natalie Thayer is painted here in a simple blouse and loose skirt, a practical outfit suitable for riding a horse, one of her favorite pastimes. Such athletic activities as riding a horse or a bicycle emerged in the late-nineteenth century as physical expressions of women's widening spheres. This painting was created outdoors at the Bar-B-C Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where both Thayer and Benson were on vacation with the Hemenway family. The site is commemorated in the inscription at the bottom left, as is the fact that the painting was dedicated to Natalie's friend and later sister-in-law, Mary Polly Hemenway. Natalie's attire and her bearing project the independent spirit that characterized the New Woman.
ProvenanceMary "Polly" Hemenway Callan Homans; To her children Desmond Callan, Mary H. Bailey, and Cristina E. Callan; to the Worcester Art Museum, 1996.On View
Not on view
