Three Dancing Ladies

Maker Phebe Mills

Period1812

MediumWatercolor, pen and ink on wove paper

Dimensions7.75 × 9.5 in. (19.7 × 24.1 cm)

SignedThe image is signed and dated along the bottom edge "MISS PHEBE MILLS Nov. The 22 Anno. Dommini. 1812."

ClassificationsDrawings

Credit LineGift of Mrs. J. Amory Haskell, 1940

Object number1473

DescriptionThis watercolor, pen and ink on paper scene depicts three young women sedately dancing in a fanciful floral landscape. All three figures wear their hair up, held with high combs. The girls' gowns are all low-necked, short sleeved, and high waisted, with the girl on the left in yellow, the girl in the center in pale green, and the girl on the right in deep red, all with decoratively trimmed necklines. The girl in yellow holds her arm outstretched towards a stylized red and yellow floral vine at left, while the two other girls clasp upraised hands above what appear to be a pair of highly stylized floral buds. A short weeping willow tree, with pale green and soft red leaves, is depicted in the center of the scene. A portion of another stylized floral shape is partly depicted at the extreme righthand side of the scene. The girls dance atop a band of pale gray. Along the bottom of the scene is the inscription "Miss PHEBE MILLS Nov. The 22 Anno. Dommini. 1812." in decorative lettering. A double border of yellow and pale red runs along the top, left, and right edges of the paper sheet.
Curatorial RemarksPhebe Mills' drawing of Three Dancing Ladies was not a casual sketch done at home, but a carefully executed work created under the watchful eye of an unknown instructor. In addition to embroidery, needlework, and samplers, young girls fortunate enough to attend either a day academy or boarding school were taught drawing and painting. Pencil, watercolor, and inks were considered suitable media for girls, giving female students an artistic outlet as well as a way of exhibiting tasteful accomplishments. Girls were also taught "specimen penmanship," another artistic achievement and one which twelve-year-old Phebe incorporated into her scene. Mills' graceful trio of elegantly-gowned ladies are fashionably garbed, the young artist lavishing much attention to the details of dagged-edge trim, barred ribbon binding on the dancers' flat-heeled slippers, and carefully drawn curls and combs. Phebe gave her figures four fingers on each hand, a charming little flaw in her picture. At one point in its existence, Phebe's drawing was folded up and stored away, the creases still visible on the paper.NotesPhebe Mills drew this charming and lively scene at the age of twelve. Her parents, James S. Mills (1765 - 1855) and Mary Rolph (Rolfe) (1766 - 1838), lived in Stafford Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey. In 1846, portions of Dover Township (now Toms River) and Stafford Township were incorporated as Union Township while the area was still part of Monmouth County. In February of 1850, the area became part of the newly formed Ocean County. Union Township changed its name to Barnegat Township in 1977. Phebe was one of eight children. On 5 September 1821, Phebe Mills married Job R. Inman (1799 - 1852), also a resident of Stafford Township. Justice of the Peace Joseph Covenhoven married the couple in his office on the same day - and perhaps in a double ceremony - as Phebe's older brother Thomas Mills (1791 - 1835) and Nancy Inman. Nancy was most likely related to Phebe's new husband Job, perhaps a cousin. After his marriage to Phebe Mills Job Inman, a Quaker, was disowned for "being married by a magistrate contrary to the good order used amongst Friends..." Job and Phebe had at least four children: Gabriel (1823 - 1914), John M. (1826 - 1867), Mary (1831 - 1836), and James S. (1834 - 1864). In the 1850 Federal Census, Job Inman was listed as a farmer. In the 1860 Federal Census, eight years after her husband's death, Phebe was living in her home with son James and daughter-in-law Angeline. Phebe Mills Inman died in 1896 at the age of 96 and was interred next to her husband in the Barnegat Memorial Cemetery in Ocean County, New Jersey.

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