Aunt Fannie, c. 1900

Unknown Artist, Aunt Fannie, c. 1900. Oil over photograph on paper, 16 x 13 ½ in.. Gift of Mrs. W. Foster Gillespie (Gertrude Miller)

Fannie Miller, donor Gertrude Miller Gillespie’s “Aunt Fannie” was born during the Civil War, and 1880 census records list her as a young woman residing with her parents, grandparents Lucinda Davis and Ebenezer Templeton Miller (on view in this gallery), and four siblings in Jacksonville, Illinois. This elaborately framed, hand-tinted photograph is rendered in oil paint over a photographic base. The unknown artist’s colorization of the image is an inventive and successful response to the increasing prevalence of photography as a form of portraiture.

The photograph itself can be seen at the part in the sitter’s hair, around the edges of her head, where paint has been lost across her bodice, and in other individual locations. The relatively crisp hairline suggests that the artist followed the line of the photograph rather than improvise to produce more naturalistic hair. In contrast, the face is a study of light and shadow, pigmentation and volume. As a result, the artist presents a convincing oil portrait in effect, that only with scrutiny can be seen to have a photograph at its base.