Mrs. Bradford Ripley Alden and her Children

1852

Robert Walter Weir American, 1803-1889

On View

American, Level 2, West Wing

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About the Artwork

This image of domestic harmony depicts the family of Captain Bradford Ripley Alden in their home at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Captain Alden had been Instructor of Military Tactics and Commandant of Cadets at the academy, but the painting shows his family after he had left West Point to assume command of a frontier garrison on the Columbia River in what is now the state of Washington.

At the far left, a dress sword leans against an upturned chair, simultaneously symbolizing Captain Alden’s absence and suggesting that his son has been playing fort. Near the chair, a dog, a conventional emblem of fidelity, looks protectively toward the captain’s wife and children. Holding a large family Bible, Mrs. Ripley looks lovingly to her left, where her son is kissing his baby sister. Behind the children, the hearth symbolizes the familial love warming the entire scene.

Title Mrs. Bradford Ripley Alden and her Children

Artwork Date 1852

Artist Robert Walter Weir

Life Dates 1803-1889

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. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 32 1/8 x 25 7/8 in. Framed: 41 x 34 3/4

Classification Paintings

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund

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. 2009.71

Markings

Signed Signed and dated, lower left: Robt. W. Weir | 1852

Provenance

Bradford Ripley Alden (West Point, New York, USA);
his wife, Anne Carolina Colemna Alden;
her daughter, Sarah Coleman Alden Derby;
her brother Robert Percy Alden;
his cousin, Mrs. Margaret "Minnie" Coleman Freeman;
Sarah Coleman Alden Derby's son, Roger Derby;
his granddaughter, Lisa Derby Middione;
by descent in the family;
2009-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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Published References

Aherns, Kent. "The Portraits by Robert W. Weir." American Art Journal 6 (May 1974): pp. 13; p. 16 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Robert Walter Weir, Mrs. Bradford Ripley Alden and her Children, 1852, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 2009.71.