Details
Contributor Smith, Xanthus, 1839-1929, former owner.
Title Bathsheba at bath. [graphic].
Publisher [United States]
Publisher UNITED STATES. 1875
Date [ca. 1875]
Physical Description 1 photograph : transparency on glass, hand colored with wood mount ; mount 18 x 10 cm (7 x 3.75 in.) (lantern slide format)
Description Lantern slide formerly owned and probably used in art lessons by Philadelphia painter, photographer, and art teacher, Xanthus Smith. Depicts Bathsheba being bathed by an enslaved Black woman outside on the rooftop. In the center, Bathsheba, nude and attired in a jeweled headpiece, a gold necklace, gold bracelets, earrings, and rings, lounges and rests her left elbow on a pillow. Her right hand grasps grapes on a side table. A cloth is draped over her lower body and her right foot is on a marble and golden basin. A Black woman, attired in a blue and gold striped skirt, and a gold necklace, ring, earrings, and bracelets, sits on a step and dries Bathsheba’s left foot with a white cloth and holds a gold mirror up. On the ground beside her are containers of perfumes, soap, or oil. Stone walls with decorative carved flowers, lion sculptures, and red curtains on rods, as well as trees and the blue sky, are visible in the background.
Notes Title from label on mount.
Part of "Old Testament" series.
Gift of Edna Andrade, 1994.
RVCDC
Description revised 2021.
Access points revised 2021.
Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Subject Bathsheba (Biblical figure)
Bible. Samuel, 2nd.
Bathing.
Racism in popular culture.
Slaves.
Women, Black.
Black women.
Enslaved labor.
Enslaved women.
Enslavement.
Genre Lantern slides -- Hand-colored -- 1870-1880.
Provenance Smith, Xanthus, 1839-1929, former owner.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Lantern Slides-Smith, Xanthus [P.9471]
Accession number P.9471