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An Interior
Mary Ellen Best1837–40
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
New York, United States
The boldly patterned wallpaper, green draperies and matching upholstered furniture shown in this interior impart an air of masculinity to the room. While the proportions of the windows at left would be suited to a room intended for formal receptions, the desk, bookcase and work table suggest that this interior has been converted to a working study, in which the occupant is surrounded by his pictures, books and sculptures.
Details
- Title: An Interior
- Creator: Mary Ellen Best
- Creator Lifespan: 1809/1891
- Date Created: 1837–40
- Type: Drawing
- Rights: Thaw Collection
- Medium: Brush and watercolor, graphite on off-white wove paper
- Provenance: Eugene V. Thaw Collection; Christopher Hodsoll, Ltd., London
- Paper Support: Off-white wove paper
- Exhibitions: New York, NY, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. House Proud: Nineteenth-Century Watercolor Interiors from the Thaw Collection, August 12, 2008-January 25, 2009.
- Dimensions: Frame H x W x D: 44.8 x 60.3 x 2.5 cm (17 5/8 x 23 3/4 x 1 in.)Sheet: 30.2 x 45.5 cm (11 7/8 x 17 15/16 in.)
- Bibliography: Gail S. Davidson et al., House Proud, Nineteenth-Century Watercolor Interiors from the Thaw Collection (New York: Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, 2008),141, pl. 79.Charlotte Gere, Nineteenth-Century Decoration: The Art of the Interior (New York: Harry N. Abrams, In., 1989), 298-299 [Illus.].Caroline Davidson, Women's Worlds: The Art and Life of Mary Ellen Best, 1809-1891 (Crown, 1985 [Illus.].
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