Winthrop Earl Bowen Portrait

Winthrop Bowen’s mother Lucy died just weeks after Winthrop was born, and Winthrop’s baptism took place over her casket in the family home in Brooklyn. Only two years later Winthrop himself died of “inflammatory croup,” according to the family Bible. This is a mourning portrait, painted several years after his death. It surprises many to learn that this is the portrait of a little boy. Until a child had their first haircut, girls and boys were dressed and coiffed in the same manner.