TitleDressing the Doll
Date1857
MediumOil on panel
DimensionsUnframed: 13 3/4 × 9 1/4 in.
SignedSigned lower left: "Ed. Frere 57"
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY, Bequest of James A. Suydam, 1865
Object number478-P
Label TextThe 1860 article on Frère in the Crayon noted that James A. Suydam owned several works by the artist. The writer seems to have been familiar with these two paintings and to be citing them when he described Frère's typical subject matter: "He represents [children] eating frugal meals, dressing rude dolls, playing cook, gleaning fagots, learning to pray and other incidents appertaining to lowly domestic life. The charm of Frère's art lies in a happy union of technical skill with poetic sentiment, the latter manifested in a love of childish naïveté."Both of the paintings by Frère in the Suydam collection depicted scenes of peasant life at Ecouen. It is possible that the painting entitled The New Doll, shown in the 1857 Gambart exhibition at Goupil's, was acquired by Suydam from that sale and that he rechristened it Dressing the Doll.
