  About the Artwork
  
  
  This image of domestic harmony depicts the family of Captain Bradford Ripley Alden in their home at the United States 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 convemotional 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.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 32 1/8 × 25 7/8 inches (81.6 × 65.7 cm)
  Framed: 41 × 34 3/4 inches (104.1 × 88.3 cm)
  
  
  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
  
  
  Copyright
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