A Month's Darning
1876
Medium
Watercolor, gouache, and gum arabic on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
20 x 15 3/4 in. (50.8 x 40 cm)
Classification
Watercolor
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand H. Davis, 1966
Accession Number
66.240
Tags
Art Historical Context
Enoch Wood Perry's *A Month's Darning (1876) captures a quiet moment of domestic life in 19th-century America, showcasing a woman intently mending clothes amid lush plants. As a prominent American genre painter, Perry specialized in intimate scenes of everyday activities, often highlighting women's roles in the home during the Victorian era. This watercolor, gouache, and gum arab work on off-white wove exemplifies his skill in rendering textures—from the soft folds of fabric to the delicate leaves—evoking a sense of calm industriousness. The mixed media technique is key to its charm: watercol...