Studies for Portraits of Two Young Girls n.d.

Elizabeth Murray made these pencil and watercolor Studies for Portraits of Two Young Girls in the 19th century. This was a time when portraiture served a social function, solidifying family ties and class status. Murray was a British artist who spent much of her career painting wealthy families in the United States. Here, we see her working through the nuances of capturing likenesses, as she renders the young girls in delicate detail. The slight asymmetry and the unfinished quality open up to the vulnerability of childhood. The Art Institute of Chicago can help us explore Murray's place in the history of portraiture. We might look at the kinds of patronage systems that allowed her to make a living, or the gendered expectations of women artists at the time. Through such institutional and historical contexts, we can consider how Murray's work reflects and refracts the social conditions of her time.