John George Brown (American, 1831-1913)
Waiting for William, 1879
Oil on canvas, 20 x 30 inches
Gift of the Mowbray Arch Society, 1998

This 19th-century American genre painting depicts a well-dressed young woman who sits alone on a empty beach, near the water's edge. Sitting slouched on a wooden support, she gazes out to sea, perhaps with thoughts of the William in the title of the painting. The point of her parasol rests between two L's of William's name, which she has written in the sand. She is dressed in a very fine white dress with a pale yellow shawl and barely holds the matching yellow parasol with her right hand.

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