The Window (later known as A Window, House on Hudson River)

1863

Oil on canvas

Overall: 27 x 19 1/2 in. (68.6 x 49.5 cm)
Framed: 39 in. × 31 1/2 in. × 4 1/4 in. (99.1 × 80 × 10.8 cm)

The Robert L. Stuart Collection, the gift of his widow Mrs. Mary Stuart

S-71

This nurse would have been an emancipated worker, since slavery had by this time been abolished in New York. The baby's outfit appears to be a christening dress and the open window in the background a traditional symbol of hope. Whittredge was primarily a landscape painter and his genre scenes often included through-the-window landscapes. The setting for this painting is believed to be the Louisa Nevins residence in Riverside, N.Y.

DescriptionAn African-American nurse sits on the window seat in an elegantly furnished home holding a white baby in an elaborate outfit, possibly a christening dress. Light streams in from the window, blazing a path through the dim interior. Outside is a crystalline view of the Hudson River.

SignedSigned and dated at lower right: "W. Whittredge / 1863"

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