Memorial picture of Sara Regina Klop
Jacob Maentel
(American (born in Germany), 1763–1863, active in U.S. 1804–1850)
about 1836
Medium/TechniqueWatercolor on paper
DimensionsSheet: 24.0 x 19.7 cm (9 7/16 x 7 3/4 in.)
Credit LineGift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch
Accession number1980.485
On View
Not on viewClassificationsWatercolors
Collections
This graceful little picture is a memorial. The inscription tells the story. Sara Regina Klop was born on October 19, 1832, to Samuel and Eleisa Klop, of Heidelberg, Pennsylvania. She had a short life, dying of gehirnwassersucht (“brain dropsy”) on August 20, 1836—aged just 3 years, 10 months, and 1 day. Sweet though it seems, the work seems more individualized than it is. This sort of composition, showing a young girl facing us against a holding was standard at the time, and Maentel made a number of pictures that are almost identical.
ProvenanceBy 1980, Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; 1980, their bequest to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 10, 1980)
