Talk:Ellen Sturgis Hooper

picture of her grand-daughter, not of her

The picture "Portrait of Ellen Sturgis Hooper, circa 1890" is almost certainly not a picture of Ellen Sturgis, the person this article is about (Transcendentalist poet, born in Boston 17 February 1812, married Robert William Hooper in Boston 25 September 1837, died in Boston 4 November 1848 from tuberculosis),

but rather her granddaughter, Ellen Sturgis Hooper (born in Brookline 12 November 1872, married John Briggs Potter in Boston 20 September 1908, died in Stockbridge 10 June 1974)(she would've been 101 years old when she died).

The picture is identified as painted by James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). It is theoretically possible that the artist could've painted, at age 56, the picture of a woman who had died when he was 14. It is much more likely that he painted a picture of her living granddaughter, then age 18. In that case, this painting would have been painted from life.

The name "Ellen Sturgis Hooper" fits both women. The grandmother was born Ellen Sturgis and married Mr. Hooper. The granddaughter was born Ellen Sturgis Hooper, named after her father's mother. (To add to the confusion, there was also a daughter/sister/aunt, Ellen Sturgis Hooper, 1838-1887.)

The picture is attributed to the correct person in the Find A Grave website.

Expo1892 (talk) 15:57, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

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