Sometimes I call this image my “Mona Lisa.” It encapsulates in a simple composition much of the things I love: history, mothers with their children, delight in the midst of work, quilts, accurate clothing and warm, angular light. The subject is Jane Snyder Richards and her daughter Wealthy. I’ve always liked the attribute names of the 19th century. “Wealthy” seems to me to be particularly optimistic. I think I’ll name my next child “Affluence” or “Prosperity!” The setting is Nauvoo, mid-1840’s. Jane went into labor with her second child shortly after leaving Nauvoo for the exodus westward. Her newborn, a son she named Isaac, lived only a few minutes. Since she had no money, Jane writes of paying the midwife with a beautiful quilt. I like to think that my painting shows this quilt, thus representing the labors and loving sacrifices we mothers willingly make for our children. Sadly, Wealthy died of disease not long after Isaac when she was only three years old; Jane buried them both at the same location along the trail. Having died as a toddler, Jane’s memoirs always refer to her as “little Wealthy.” ~Lynde Mott
