Mother and Child

Francis Coates Jones’s Mother and Child illustrates the most important function of womanhood, according to the nineteenth-century ideal: the raising and instructing of children. A well-dressed mother and daughter, their delicate features noticeably similar, sit in adjacent chairs, their attention fixed on a large, thin book, possibly a children’s picture-book, held upright in the child’s lap. The young reader is dwarfed by her high-backed chair, suggesting the development yet ahead for her. Soft light from above plays over such luxurious furnishings as richly patterned wallpaper and an oriental rug, evidence of the wealth that affords the mother leisure to devote to her daughter’s instruction. A small table in the background supports a sewing box and a crystal vase of full white roses, perhaps symbolizing the complementary feminine ideals of domesticity and moral purity.

With such pleasing, genteel genre scenes, or images of everyday life, Jones realized a quick success early in his career, in the mid-1880s. He was noted for the delicate detail of his interior settings, with their rich furnishings. Drawing on the iconic theme of mother and child, Jones’s painting presents a quiet scene of two figures physically immobilized in the act of reading, but engaged in an implied narrative of constructive generational interaction.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, images of idealized domesticity were popular among American artists and their public. Such works as Mother and Child celebrated the confinement of women to the domestic sphere as the fulfillment of a higher purpose made possible by men’s material success. Images of mothers engaged in the proper upbringing of children subtly argued that societal restrictions imposed on women afforded them not only protection from the rough-and-tumble world of business and public life but a truly exalted role: that of shaping future generations as they preserved and transmitted cultural and moral values. By passing along the skill of reading to her daughter, Jones’s mother may unwittingly plant the seeds of future female empowerment, however. Traditionally shown in American art reading only the Bible or—in more frivolous images—love letters, women were beginning to be depicted reading newspapers and important literature, harbingers of their aspirations for full participation in public and intellectual life. Painted in an era in which women’s formal education was rapidly evolving, Mother and Child hints at a very different future that may await the young reader.

Life in 19th Century America, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, September 11–November 15, 1981. [exh. cat.]

Nineteenth Century Genre Painting from The Daniel J. Terra Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, November 15, 1985–January 12, 1986. [exh. cat.]

Domestic Bliss: Family Life in American Painting, 1840–1910, The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York (organizer). Venues: The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York, May 18–July 14, 1986; The Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum, Rochester, New York, August 17–November 30, 1986. [exh. cat.]

A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]

Selections from the Permanent Collection: Life in 19th Century America, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 24–September 6, 1987.

An American Revelation: The Daniel J. Terra Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, February 28–October 1, 1988.

Americans and Paris, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine (organizer). Venue: Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine, August 1–October 22, 1990. [exh. cat.]

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 1992.

Visions of a Nation: Exploring Identity through American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, August 10, 1996–January 12, 1997.

Domestic Bliss: Family Life in America, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–June 22, 1997.

L'Héroïque et le quotidien: les artistes américains, 1820–1920 (The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001. [exh. cat.]

Visages de l'Amérique: de George Washington à Marilyn Monroe (Faces of America: From George Washington to Marilyn Monroe), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2004. [exh. cat.]

Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940 (Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France and Miedzynarodowe Centrum Kultury (International Cultural Center), Crakow, Poland (organizers). Venue: International Cultural Center, Crakow, Poland, February 15–May 7, 2006. [exh. cat.]

Portrait of a Lady : peintures et photographies américaines en France, 1870–1915 (Portrait of a Lady: American Paintings and Photographs in France, 1870–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France and Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France (organizers). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, April 1–July 14, 2008; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, September 25, 2008–January 5, 2009. [exh. cat.]

Sokol, David M. Life in 19th Century America: An Exhibition of American Genre Painting. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Evanston, Illinois: Terra Museum of American Art, 1981. Text p. 39; ill. no. 66, p. 34 (black & white).

Edwards, Lee M. et al. Domestic Bliss: Family Life in American Painting, 1840–1910. (exh. cat., The Hudson River Museum). Yonkers, New York: The Hudson River Museum, 1986. Text pp. 23, 92; ill. p. 93 (black & white).

Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-92, p. 201 (color as Mother and Child Reading).

Marlais, Michael Andrew. Americans and Paris. (exh. cat., Colby College Museum of Art). Waterville, Maine: The Museum, 1990. Fig. 28, p. 30 (color as Mother and Child Reading).

Mother and Child, Francis Coates Jones. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 1992. Ill. (black & white).

Breathnach, Sarah Ban. Mrs. Sharp's Traditions: Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations of Comfort and Joy. New York: Scribner, 2001. Image on dedication page (color).

Lévy, Sophie, et al. Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940/Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940. (exh. cat. International Cultural Center). Cracow, Poland: International Cultural Center, 2006. Ill. p. 89 (color).

Terhune, Anne Gregory, et al. Thomas Hovenden: His Life and Art. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. Text p. 159; ill. p. 159 (black & white).

Lecomte, Vanessa, editor. Portrait of a Lady : peinture et photographies américains (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny and Musée des beaux-arts de Bordeaux). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2008. Text (checklist) p. 94.