Detail of Young Wife First Stew by Spencer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2022

Title: Young Wife: First Stew

Artist: Lilly Martin Spencer (1822–1902)

Date: 1854

Geography: Made in New York, New York, United States

Culture: American

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 30 × 24 in. (76.2 × 61 cm)
Framed: 40 × 35 × 3 in. (101.6 × 88.9 × 7.6 cm)

Credit Line: Gift of Bruce and Susan Lueck, 2017

Accession Number: 2017.369


Painted in New York at the height of Spencer’s popularity, Young Wife: First Stew is the companion piece to Young Husband: First Marketing. The produce obtained by the husband on his ill-advised shopping trip now appears on his wife’s kitchen table, including a pineapple, eggs, and asparagus. In the early stages of preparing a stew, the fashionable yet distraught young woman peels an onion, while her puzzled household helper looks on. When exhibited in 1856, the picture was singled out in the press for its technical expertise—notably Spencer’s handling of the still life—as well as the unconventional subject matter.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/765285