Rainy Day

In this interior scene of the artist’s summer residence in Maine, American Impressionist Frank Weston Benson depicted his daughter Elisabeth curled up in a rattan chair near a large fireplace. Benson is best known for his outdoor figural compositions, which often feature his wife or children in sun-filled, breezy landscapes. Rainy Day, in contrast, is a study of the subtler effects of interior light. The artist captured the soft, filtered light emanating from the left and embers glowing at far right. Benson was one of a number of late-19th-century artists who painted scenes of contemplative women in interiors, sometimes engaged in activities like sewing or reading, suggesting a cultural link between domesticity and femininity.