CC0 · no rights reserved
Mourning Pin
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, and sometimes included symbols of grieving such as a dove or weeping willow.
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineMourning Pin. 1790s. Unidentified. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mary Elizabeth Spencer. CC0.
