In the same attic room that Guy (American, 1824 – 1910) portrayed in Story of Golden Locks, a girl turns her bedtime preparations into a flight of fancy as she imagines herself in the womanly splendour of a long gown. The narrative reflects the new belief that play and leisure were good for children, rather than wicked, and confirms feminine stereotypes at a time when womanhood seemed to be under attack by militant feminists. Reformers of the day, who worried about dirty and delinquent street children, may have appreciated the depiction of a clean, healthy, white girl in a modest home. The red, white, and blue triad, in the quilt and in the girl's dress, chemise, and headband, signals the subject's national implications. The commingling of sexual allure and girlish innocence was prevalent in Guy's era, as seen in photographs by Lewis Carroll and Julia Margaret Cameron.
[Oil on canvas, 46 x 61.3 cm]
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