Sarah Goodin Barrett Moulton: "Pinkie"

Judith Barrett commissioned this painting of her granddaughter to ease the pain of the child's absence. Sarah, known to her family as "Pinkie," was raised in the British colony of Jamaica before being sent to England for schooling. Mrs. Barrett requested that her granddaughter be depicted "in an easy, careless attitude." Pinkie's brilliant hat ribbons flutter in the breeze, while a gust of wind picks up her lustrous white skirts. Lawrence's use of a low horizon hightens the monumentality of this portrait of a young girl, who died shortly after the painting was completed. His idealized portrayal of childhood led to "Pinkie's" international fame and iconic status.