Domestic Happiness

1849

Lilly Martin Spencer American, 1822-1902

On View

American, Level 2, West Wing

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About the Artwork

The only well known female genre painter of her generation, Lily Martin Spencer specialized in themes of domesticity. Domestic Happiness is one of her most important works. The scene is based on a preliminary drawing of her two oldest sons asleep in each other’s arms. Their parents, aglow with pride, watch them. Spencer’s children eventually totaled thirteen, seven of whom lived to maturity. Lily was the breadwinner; her husband, Benjamin, tended the house and the children.

Title Domestic Happiness

Artwork Date 1849

Artist Lilly Martin Spencer

Life Dates 1822-1902

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 55 1/4 × 45 3/4 inches (140.3 × 116.2 cm) Framed: 72 × 57 1/4 × 4 inches (182.9 × 145.4 × 10.2 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Bequest of Dr. and Mrs. James Cleland, Jr.

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 34.274

Markings

Inscriptions Inscribed, on verso: Lilly M. Spencer | Painter 1849

Provenance

Philadelphia Art Union Western Art Union (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA) Captain Waterman Samuel Preston Brady (1809-1868) Elizabeth Mary (Nexsen) Brady (1813-1888). Wife of the above. Dr. and Mrs. James Cleland, Jr. 1934-present, bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

“Catalogue of Paintings, now on exhibition in our free Gallery. Prices, including Frames.” Philadelphia Art Union Reporter 1, no. 1-3 (January-April 1851).

Hadry, Henriette A. “Mrs. Lilly M. Spencer.” Sartain’s Union Magazine 9 (August 1851): pp. 152-154.

Catalogue of Articles on exhibition at the Gallery of Fine Arts, in the Firemen’s Hall, February 1853. Exh. cat. Duncklee & Wales, Book and Job print, Detroit, 1853.

“The Fine Art Gallery.” The Broken Fetter, Published during the Ladies’ Michigan State Fair, for the Relief and Destitute Freedmen and Refugees,” February 28, 1865, p. 5.

Catalogue, Second Exhibition and Constitution and By-laws of the Detroit Art Association. Exh. cat., Detroit Art Association. Gulley’s Steam Press, Detroit, 1875-76.

Detroit Art Loan Exhibition. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1883, p. 65, no. 670.

National Academy of Design Exhibition Record 1826-1860. Exh. cat., New-York Historical Society. New York, 1943, p. 134.

Lilly Martin Spencer 1822-1902: The Joys of Sentiment. Exh. cat., National Collection of Fine Arts. Washington, D.C., 1973, p. 31, no. 133.

Lubin, David M. Picturing a Nation: Art and Social Change in Nineteenth-Century America. New Haven, CT, 1994, pp. 162-169.

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