CC0 · no rights reserved
Portrait of the Downer Children
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Peter Frederick Rothermel created an imaginary landscape of lush vegetation and clouds behind the Downer children, who pose as stiffly as statues. A medieval castle looms in the distance behind Dora, while Amy leans against a stone pedestal, holding her baby brother, Adolph. The white rabbit, a gentle creature of nature, symbolizes the children’s own natural innocence. Captain George Downer and his wife commissioned Rothermel to paint this portrait when he was the director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in Philadelphia.
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit linePortrait of the Downer Children. 1850. Peter Frederick Rothermel, born Nescopeck, PA 1812-died Linfield, PA 1895. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Josephine Regar Schlagel. CC0.
