Watercolor Painting Depicting the Bennet Family Record
date: label: Date made
content: April 12, 1804
label: Date made
content: 1804-04-12
name: label: described
content: Bennet, Jonathan
label: described
content: Haskel, Betty
label: artist
content: Barns, Ruben
notes: label: Description
content: The practice of recording family likenesses predates the 1839 invention of photography by thousands of years, as seen in sculptures and paintings. Illuminated family records commemorated births, deaths, and marriages. This watercolor family record from Poland, Maine, recorded the marriage of Miss Betty Haskel and Mr. Jonathan Bennet, as well as the birth dates of their nine children.
label: Description
content: Pregnancy and raising children filled the daily lives of many women in the eighteenth century. Marriages, births, and deaths were primarily community affairs prior to the mid-19th century. Family occasions were marked by a gathered congregation, a village, or a household that routinely included servants, apprentices, lodgers, and visitors.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Maine, Poland
topic: label: Subject
content: Marriage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
content: Family & Social Life
label: See more items in
content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur M. Greenwood
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.388164
label: catalog number
content: 388164
label: accession number
content: 182022
objectType: label: Object Name
content: painting
label: Other Terms
content: Painting; Pictures; Watercolor
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: watercolor (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: image: 13 3/4 in x 10 3/4 in; 34.925 cm x 27.305 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall-in frame: 3/4 in x 20 1/8 in x 22 1/2 in; 1.905 cm x 51.1175 cm x 57.15 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, frame hook: 3/4 in x 15 3/8 in x 1 7/8 in; 1.905 cm x 39.0525 cm x 4.7625 cm