The Bashful Cousin

Scenes detailing middle-class manners and mores became prevalent in American art and literature toward the middle of the nineteenth century, and Francis Edmonds' amusing vignette regarding matrimonial intent successfully combines these two avenues of expression. The painting is loosely based on James Kirke Paulding's "The Dutchman's Fireside," a popular tale set in mid-eighteenth-century New York. The story deals with the relationship between a shy, ungainly bachelor, Sybrandt Westbrook, and his distant cousin, Catalina Vancour. As the young woman implores her diffident caller to stay for tea, her mother gestures towards the couple. She is either soliciting her husband's help in persuading the young man to remain, or -- in the hope of securing an even better match for her daughter -- attempting to enlist his aid in discouraging their daughter's affections for this provincial suitor. Mr. Vancour pointedly ignores his wife, far too absorbed in worldly affairs to concern himself with matters of etiquette or romance. In the background, the bemused family servant, Aunt Nantje, wisely surveys the scene.The precise detailing of the structured, stage-like space, the theatrical use of light, the choice of brightly colored costumes, and the humorous portrayal of everyday life all reflect the influence of the seventeenth-century Dutch genre paintings that had impressed Edmonds greatly during his travels on the Continent.