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Abbott Handerson Thayer , (Aug 12, 1849–May 29, 1921)

Monadnock Angel

1920-1921
91 1/8 in. x 60 in. (231.46 cm x 152.4 cm)

Medium and Support: Oil on canvas

Credit Line: Gift of anonymous donor

Accession Number: 1930.17

Commentary

Monadnock Angel, the monumental painting that Thayer created at the end of his life, is a testament to all that had interested him throughout his career—the human figure, the concepts of ideal female beauty, the embodiment of historical imagery, as well as the imperative to protect and preserve the natural environment. In his Dublin New Hampshire studio overlooking his sacred Mount Monadnock, Thayer plied his dual interests, capturing the majesty of the mountain before him in transcendent images of natural beauty, and enlisting his children and his neighbors to pose for his idealized paintings of angels and Madonnas. In this case the artist’s daughter Gladys has been robed in classical gown, crowned with a golden halo, supplied with a dramatic pair of feathered wings, and set against a backdrop of Monadnock and its forested foreground, to transform the actual into a heavenly vision of angelic virtue and beauty. Joining Thayer in his interest in Renaissance-inspired imagery was his Dublin neighbor, George de Forest Brush, whose painting of his wife, son, baby daughter, and their nurse set before Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s Cornish New Hampshire homestead in the distance, references the traditional typologies of Madonna and Child.

Exhibition List

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Memorial Exhibition of the Work of Abbott Handerson Thayer The Metropolitan Museum of Art , 3/20/1922 - 4/30/1922
Masterworks of American Art from the Addison Gallery Collection Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc. , 10/6/1981 - 10/31/1981
Abbot Handerson Thayer Everson Art Museum , 9/17/1982 - 4/3/1983
A Circle of Friends: Art Colonies of Cornish and Dublin University Art Galleries, University of New Hampshire , 3/2/1985 - 10/30/1985
Boys and Girls, Men and Women Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/12/1990 - 6/10/1990
American Masterworks Addison Gallery of American Art , 10/5/1990 - 12/16/1990
Masterworks from the Permanent Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/5/1995 - 12/17/1995
Addison Gallery of American Art: 65 Years Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/13/1996 - 7/31/1996
Framework: American Pictures and Frames Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/16/1999 - 4/4/1999
Abbott Thayer: The Nature of Art National Museum of American Art , 4/23/1999 - 9/6/1999
Masterworks from the Permanent Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 2/22/2000 - 3/26/2000
Foundations: Building the Addison Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/12/2001 - 4/1/2001
Eye on the Collection: Views and Viewpoints Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/19/2008 - 3/23/2008
Eye on the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/27/2013 - 7/31/2013
Heaven and Earth Addison Gallery of American Art , 2/7/2015 - 4/5/2015
One Thing Leads to Another…Selections from the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/30/2016 - 3/20/2016
Eye on the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/1/2017 - 7/31/2018
In and Out of Place Addison Gallery of American Art , 2/16/2019 - 7/31/2019
[Permanent Collection, 209] Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/28/2023 - 7/31/2023

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