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Mourning Ring for William Burnside
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Miniature paintings memorializing a friend or family member grew popular in the nineteenth century when the death of Prince Albert sent Queen Victoria into deep mourning. A name and death date on a locket, pin, or ring marked the passing of a loved one, and artists sometimes mixed a lock of the deceased person’s hair in with the pigment. The paintings often showed the bereaved person next to a tomb or cinerary urn, as in Mourning Locket for A. R. and Mourning Ring for William Burnside, and sometimes included symbols of grieving such as a dove or weeping willow.
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineMourning Ring for William Burnside. 1788. Unidentified. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mary Elizabeth Spencer. CC0.
