Description:
miniature
Label Text:
In an impressive bronze case, this portrait by Charleston miniaturist Charles Fraser captures not only Alice Flagg’s youthful disposition, but also something of her difficult life, which remains the subject of a popular Southern legend. Flagg (1834–1849) was born into a prominent South Carolina plantation family, and she fell in love with a low-class lumberman; the relationship prompted familial outrage. Sent to boarding school in Charleston, Flagg fell ill and died (probably of malaria) soon after her return home. Her brother then took a ring that the lumberman had given to her and threw it into a nearby marsh. Legend maintains that her ghost, desperate to recover her lover’s ring, haunts her home and the surrounding area. Fraser’s portrait, which he may have painted posthumously from a photograph, keeps this legend alive.
Written by Timothy Clark, Class of 2012
American Art Intern, Fall 2011
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+1945.91 |
