Love Sonnets
Date1894
Artist
Marie Spartali Stillman
(English painter and artists' model, 1844–1927)
MediumWatercolor and gouache on paper, mounted on wood panel
Dimensions17 3/8 × 11 in. (44.1 × 27.9 cm)
frame: 20 1/2 × 14 in. (52.1 × 35.6 cm)
frame: 20 1/2 × 14 in. (52.1 × 35.6 cm)
Credit LineSamuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial, 1935
Object number1935-74
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextStillman worked in mixed media—gouache (watercolor mixed with opaque pigment), gum arabic (a binding agent), pastel, and chalk. The combination of materials creates a rich surface which looks like oil paint, but with a slightly softer finish. This unusual combination of media was perhaps her way of traversing the gender gap in the Victorian art world. Watercolor, not oil, was considered the appropriate media for female artists.
