The Song

Artist: Winifred Von Miller 1959-1925
Little is known about this artist, but her subject, “The Song”, is quite well known in painting of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The lives of women, especially images that might reveal something of their interior lives, were explored by both male and female artists. Most of these paintings were of upper class women who had the leisure to visit friends, explore gardens or, as in this case, sing songs for intimate audiences. Their performances usually took place in private homes, and the songs were often of the sort known as “pathetic.” This description is not a judgment, but rather an explanation of the sentiment of such songs, which were about tragedy and truly saddening circumstances, including death. These soul-wrenching situations were, in the songs, often visited upon the innocent (especially women) and these songs were intended to provoke the listeners to tears.