The Blue Ribbon

Thayer famously painted many winged female allegorical figures and angels throughout his career. He also frequently depicted his family members, including his daughters. This lovely small portrait is typical of the artist’s skills at rendering late-Victorian young women.

The artist was born in Boston into a prominent family and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and with Jean-Leon Gerome. Upon his return to the U.S., he created spiritual and transcendental compositions and became associated with a group of Tonalists (a more muted branch of impressionism) and with the ‘American Renaissance’ movement with fellow artists Kenyon Cox, Elihu Vedder, Daniel French, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens.