Sarah Goodin Barrett Moulton: "Pinkie"

Maker Thomas Lawrence (British, 1769-1830)

SitterSitter: Sarah Goodin Barrett Moulton (British, 1783 - 1795)

Collections

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Date1794

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 58 1/4 × 40 1/4 in. (148 × 102.2 cm.) frame: 70 × 53 × 6 1/2 in. (177.8 × 134.6 × 16.5 cm.)

DescriptionThis iconic painting by Thomas Lawrence portrays young Sarah Goodin Barrett Moulton – better known by her nickname, Pinkie – in a landscape.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Status

On view

Label TextJudith Barrett commissioned this painting of her granddaughter to ease the pain of the child's absence. Sarah, known to her family as "Pinkie," was raised in the British colony of Jamaica before being sent to England for schooling. Mrs. Barrett requested that her granddaughter be depicted "in an easy, careless attitude." Pinkie's brilliant hat ribbons flutter in the breeze, while a gust of wind picks up her lustrous white skirts. Lawrence's use of a low horizon hightens the monumentality of this portrait of a young girl, who died shortly after the painting was completed. His idealized portrayal of childhood led to "Pinkie's" international fame and iconic status.

Bibliography

British paintings at the Huntington

Object number27.61