Headdress (Peue 'Ei)
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Object Label
Model Sisters
Thomas Eakins and John Singer Sargent were just beginning their hugely successful careers when they turned to cherished sisters as their models for these two intimate works. Although both had studied figure painting in Paris, they found powerful inspiration in Dutch and Spanish seventeenth-century painting (especially the works of Rembrandt van Rijn and Diego Velázquez), famous for their expressive description of light and shadow.
Eakins painted his sister Margaret (1853–1882) overseeing the younger Caroline (1865–1889) at a time when their mother was gravely ill. Sargent’s similarly tender and richly brushed portrait of his little sister Violet (1870–1955) is his earliest surviving oil portrait.
Caption
Kaimoko Family; Marquesan. Headdress (Peue 'Ei), 19th century. Porpoise teeth, glass beads, coir, 16 x 16 x 2 in. (40.6 x 40.6 x 5.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 42.211.105. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.211.105_SL1.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Maker
Culture
Title
Headdress (Peue 'Ei)
Date
19th century
Geography
Possible place made: Marquesas Islands, Ua Pou, French Polynesia, Place collected: Atuona Valley, Marquesas Islands, Hiva Oa, French Polynesia
Medium
Porpoise teeth, glass beads, coir
Classification
Dimensions
16 x 16 x 2 in. (40.6 x 40.6 x 5.1 cm)
Credit Line
A. Augustus Healy Fund
Accession Number
42.211.105
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. 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). 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.
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