# Mary Walker Waugh

- By: William Holman Hunt (British, 1827–1910)
- Date: 1868
- Medium: oil on fabric
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Framed: 115.5 x 95.5 x 6 cm (45 1/2 x 37 5/8 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 86.2 x 66.1 cm (33 15/16 x 26 in.)
- Culture: England, 19th century
- Credit line: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1984.41)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1984.41/1984.41_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

William Holman Hunt painted this portrait of Mary Walker Waugh (1805–1886)—his mother-in-law—during a time of personal tragedy. Waugh’s daughter Fanny Waugh Hunt (1832–1866), the wife of the artist, had recently died following childbirth. References to loss of life infiltrate the composition: the sitter wears black mourning attire, and behind her is a screen decorated with red poppies, a traditional symbol of unconsciousness and lifelessness because of its pharmaceutical use as a source for opiates. In Victorian society, the red poppy also signified consolation.