PRESIDING DIVINITIES: IDEAL SCULPTURE IN ... - Indiana University

for his delicate, expertly handled gouache landscapes and portraits. 6 He lived in New
York throughout the 1840s, and was somewhat of a celebrity there. A political exile who
had traveled around Europe for eight years before settling in the United States, he
attracted a circle of intellectuals who met regularly at his Manhattan home to discuss
European politics and culture. The Haights, who prided themselves on the breadth of
their cultural knowledge, may have known him socially. Calyo is also listed in New York
directories of this period as a private art instructor. Lydia, the Haights’ oldest child,
painted seriously enough to eventually pursue her art studies in Rome. It’s possible that
Caylo was her teacher. In any case, gouache was not a popular medium in the United
States before the Civil War, and was used almost exclusively by European-trained artists.
The only master of this medium known to be working in New York in the 1840s was
Nicolino Calyo.
The painting was given a date of circa 1848 when it was acquired by the Museum.
This date, however, is slightly too late. In the 1850 Federal Census Record, there are six
Haight children, not just four, and Lydia (though still living with her parents) is twenty
years old, married, and has an infant of her own. 7 In the portrait, her physical appearance
and her costume indicate that she is between twelve and fourteen years of age. 8 In fact,
6 Information about Calyo is sparse. See Kathleen Foster, In Philadelphia: Three
Centuries of American Art (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976), 300;
Stephen Rubin and John K. Howat, American Watercolors from The Metropolitan
Museum of Art (New York: Abrams, 1991), 14, 66-67.
7 New York, New York County, 1850 U.S. Census, population schedule, 143, accessed
through Ancestry.com, 16 July 2004.
8
I am grateful to Amelia Peck, Associate Curator of Decorative Arts, Metropolitan
Museum of Art, for her help in determining Lydia Haight’s probable age based on her
clothing. Peck, e-mail to the author, 3 May 2004.
26