Annabel Lee
James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
1885-1887
Classification
Drawing
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1905.129a-b
Tags
American ArtCharles Lang Freer collectionUnited Statesoceanwaterwoman
About this artwork
When Freer purchased this drawing of a statuesque figure, he noted that the seller thought the subject was Niobe. The drawing has carried the title Annabel Lee since 1905. Both subjects are associated with the sense of death. Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus; she was turned to stone while bewailing the loss of her children. Annabel Lee, who probably symbolized Edgar Allan Poe's young wife, also is lost: