Figure 1.-- This is one of Esquivel's earlier portraits. It is reproduced on the internert by countless sites. But unlike many popular images, we have found no discussion. All we see is the virtually mandatory, 'Girl with a drum' or 'girl playing a drum'/'niña tocando el tambor'. As far as we know this was not Esquivel's title, but rather a title that has been ascribed to the painting. And the identity of the child is unknown. I must have been a commision. Why the child's name is lost, we do not know. A problem here, is that most people assume a child in a dress is a girl, even though before the 20th century, younger boys commonly wore dresses until breeched, commonly at ages 3-5 years. And here we have questions, primarily because it is very rare to picture a girl with drum.

This is one of Esquivel's earlier portraits. It is reproduced on the internert by countless sites. But unlike many popular images, we have found no discussion. All we see is the virtually mandatory, 'Girl with a drum' or 'girl playing a drum'/'niña tocando el tambor'. As far as we know this was not Esquivel's title, but rather a title that has been ascribed to the painting. And the identity of the child is unknown. I must have been a commision. Why the child's name is lost, we do not know. A problem here, is that most people assume a child in a dress is a girl, even though before the 20th century, younger boys commonly wore dresses until breeched, commonly at ages 3-5 years. And here we have questions, primarily because it is very rare to picture a girl with drum. In fact, a drum was one of the props used to identify boys. But we notice the child had a center hair part, this is an attribute commonly adopted by girls, but like the drum is not a sure indicator. The child is depicted in a white dress and pantalettes. This of course suggests a girl to our modern sebsibilities. But at the time younger boys also wore dresss and pantalettes. The ringlet curls are also a complication. They also make the child look like a girl. But younger boys also might have their hair curled. Here we think such extensive ringlets were lsss common for boys at the time. It this had been during the Fauntleroy era (1880s-90s) it would not have been so associated with girls.

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Created: 5:37 PM 11/29/2023
Last updated: 5:37 PM 11/29/2023