Title
Winding Yarn (Interior of a Nantucket Kitchen), 1872. Creator: Eastman Johnson (American, 1824-1906).
Caption
Winding Yarn (Interior of a Nantucket Kitchen), 1872. Several of Johnson?s most acclaimed works were inspired by Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, where he summered after acquiring property in the early 1870s. Set in a rustic kitchen interior, this painting depicts a woman who winds a ball of yarn from a coil looped in the hands of a man sitting across from her at a respectable distance. At the time, winding yarn was a common symbol of courtship that carried humorous overtones of a woman ensnaring her suitor. The second woman in the composition is likely a chaperone. The suitor?s unrefined, open-legged pose, coupled with his uncouth action of placing his hat on the floor, adds further comic elements that audiences at the time would have appreciated.
Credit line
Photo12/Heritage Images/Heritage Art
Reference
HRM19G19_376
Model release
NA
Property release
NA
License type
Rights managed
Available size
48,9Mb (3,1Mb) / 16,7in x 11,4in / 5000 x 3416 (300dpi)