Figure 1.-- Chandler depicted several boys wearing dresses. We do not have the ages of the boys or often the dates, but they were mostly painted in the late-1830s-1860 period before the advent of the CDV which greatly expanded the photographic output. The Carpenter boys portrait here may have been painted about 1861.

We see twin brothers wearing identical white dresses and hair styles. Here we have their names -- Hugh and Wright Carpenter. Props are often useful in identifying gender with flowers commomly shown with girls, but here the children are definitely girls because we know their names. Of course we mostly see the various cionventions forming after the appearance of CDVs. We are not at all sure about the ages of the boys. That is commonly something that naive artists do not depict well. They are great at clothing details, but not at ages. Thus it is not clear how old they are, but 3-4 years seems a resonable estimate. The boys are wearing identical outfits, including hats. Theey are holding their coordinated hats, probably so their top curls which mother is clearly very proud of are displayed. The hats are, however, cleraly shown--straw hats with narrow brims. The hat bands and streamers match the white dresses. Mther has not equivocated here. The hat styles klike the dresses are garments that as well. While the dresses were white, they are painted in grey tones. We think that was an attempt to capture the type of material, but we are not sure what the artist was trying to depict. We might guess that it was silk. The dresses have low neck-line. They are worn with white socks or stockings. The portrait is held by the Bennington Museum in Bennington Massachusettes. We note they date it to 'circa 1861'. By 'circa' that means that the date is not written on the back, but estimated by the Museum. That is imprtant to note. But note the high-top shoes. They are an indication that the boys could have been painted in the 1860s. The boys do not have ringlet curls, but they do have a matching top curl. That is a boy's style that we begin to see more commonly in the 1860s.

Created: 11:49 PM 12/21/2022
Last updated: 11:49 PM 12/21/2022