In 1835, just two years after the death of her husband, John Winslow Whitman, Sarah Helen Whitman sat for portrait artist Cephas Giovanni Thompson to render this likeness featuring her widow’s bonnet. The unconventional pink ribbon signifies Whitman’s rebellion against the social norms of her time.

Whitman had stated that this painting was “unfinished” and more of a “sketch in oil” which could be the reason that she had a new painting completed in 1869 using this one as a reference. During Poe and Whitman’s courtship, she would often catch him admiring this painting as it hung in her parlor.

Whitman bequeathed this painting to Brown University after her death in 1878, but her executors mistakenly gave it to The Providence Athenaeum. The painting meant to go to the Athenaeum was given to Brown University. 

Thompson’s painting is currently on display in a locked room called the Art Room on the mezzanine level above the main entrance of the Athenaeum. You can reserve this room for studying or special meetings, but if you would like to simply view the portrait up close, ask a staff member during your visit.