Carte-de-visite portrait of Lydia Maria Child

John Adams Whipple, American, 1822 - 1891 · ca. 1865

Carte-de-visite of Lydia Maria Child shown in half portrait. Child is seated behind the corner of a white columned banister, possibly on a balcony outside a house with wooden siding next to a window with a lace curtain. Her left elbow is propped on the railing and her left hand rests on her chin. She holds a book in her right hand, which she is reading. Her hair is parted at the center and gathered into curls or braided above her ears, then pulled behind her head. She wears a dark colored bodice and skirt with dropped bell sleeves and white lace collar. There is a ring with a dark stone on her left hand ring finger.