ArcadópolisEspañol
Smiling young woman in a green dress and pink apron stirring a pot by a table of fruit, framed by a yellow arch

Kiss Me and You'll Kiss the 'Lasses

Lilly Martin Spencer, 1856

What you see

A young woman in a green dress and pink apron stirs a blue pot at a table, holding a spoon aloft over a glass. She turns her head and smiles straight at the viewer. Fruit is everywhere: baskets of cherries, raspberries and green grapes, and a tub of apples and pineapples. Through the doorway on the left lies another room, with a red-covered table.

A painted yellow arch frames the scene like a stage. The green silk and the pink apron stand out against the gray wall, and the carpet is strewn with red flowers. Watch for the basket of red clusters on the floor at left, and the white embossed pitcher on the cabinet behind her.

About Lilly Martin Spencer

Lilly Martin Spencer was born in England in 1822, grew up on a farm in Ohio and became one of the most popular and widely reproduced women painters in mid-nineteenth-century America. Her lively, often humorous scenes of family life, which sometimes poked fun at husbands, were sold widely as lithographs. Unusually for her time, she was the family breadwinner while her husband ran the household, and she kept painting until her death at nearly eighty.

All 10 works by Lilly Martin Spencer

More by Lilly Martin Spencer

The Arcadópolis Museum has 443 public-domain works in 40 rooms, free to explore in 3D in your browser.