Skip Navigation

Portrait of Elizabeth Stirling Foote

Thomas Seir Cummings

American Art

On View: Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor
In keeping with the emotional symbolism of miniatures, couples frequently exchanged these tokens to mark an engagement or wedding, as was the case for Elizabeth Stirling (1811–1900) and Erasmus Darwin Foote (1808–1866), who married in March 1833. (Accession no. 16.687.2, in Drawer 47A, is the companion miniature.) The artist, Thomas Seir Cummings of New York, was the most famous miniaturist of his day and also taught and published on the subject. Contemporary critics praised his works for their ability to “raise sensations in the bosoms of those who gaze on them.”
MEDIUM Watercolor on ivory portrait in brass locket with glass lenses on both sides
DATES 1832
DIMENSIONS Image (sight): 2 11/16 x 2 3/16 in. (6.8 x 5.6 cm) Frame: 3 x 2 5/8 in. (7.6 x 6.7 cm) Frame (height with loop): 3 7/16 in. (8.7 cm) Case: 4 3/16 x 3 1/8 x 1 in. (10.6 x 7.9 x 2.5 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Signed in pencil on verso: "Cummings Pinx.t; dated 1832."
COLLECTIONS American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 16.687.1
CREDIT LINE Museum Collection Fund
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Locket has a small window on the verso (window is empty) and glass lens is dislodged, paper and fabric backing inside; companion piece 16.687.2. Miniature is housed in fitted red leather case with latch.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor
CAPTION Thomas Seir Cummings (American, born England, 1804-1894). Portrait of Elizabeth Stirling Foote, 1832. Watercolor on ivory portrait in brass locket with glass lenses on both sides, Image (sight): 2 11/16 x 2 3/16 in. (6.8 x 5.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 16.687.1 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 16.687.1_PS1.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 16.687.1_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT No known copyright restrictions
This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.