Left in Charge

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TitleLeft in Charge

Artist Lemuel Everett Wilmarth (1835 - 1918)

Date1874

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 14 7/8 × 12 in. Framed: 22 1/4 × 19 1/2 × 3 1/2 in.

SignedSigned at lower left: "L.E. Wilmarth / 1874"

SubmissionNA diploma presentation, April 20, 1874

Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY

Object number724-P

Label TextAt some point in the early twentieth century, Wilmarth's "Left in Charge" was assigned to George Cochran Lamdin as "Dog and Children" or "Minding Baby." Thorough examination of the painting in 1986, however, revealed Wilmarth's extremely faint signature and date. By 1908, Wilmarth himself could not remember which painting he had given as his diploma contribution. In a letter to M. A. Nicholas, he speculated that if the picture represented "a little girl leaving a pet dog in charge of a child in a cradle," its correct title had to be "Left in Charge."

The only painting which Wilmarth showed in the 1874 NAD Annual was "Left in Charge." It is carefully executed in a minute stipple technique which does not obscure its assiduous draftsmanship. The painting received a long and critical notice from the reviewer of the New York Daily Tribune. The writer found too much attention wasted on the "clumsy furniture, ill designed, "ill drawn," and despite the studious perspective of the rug, "uncomfortably huddled together." The girl was described as "stiff and wooden," the baby as "without form and void." Only the dog was praised for its expression. The review ended with speculation that Wilmarth's powers might be in decline because of the burden of time spent teaching in the Academy Schools. Likewise, a writer for Watson's Art Journal thought the painting was "faulty in composition" and that the light and shade in it was "badly arranged." He advised the artist to give more attention to texture. "Handling of the brush," the author concluded, "seems to be lost sight of altogether, and the consequence is a tame and spiritless picture."

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