Sethbag wrote:Joseph is thinking "hmm, maybe I could get Emma to sell this fine hair to pay for a fob for the gold watch the brethren just gave me."
Oh that's good, Seth. But even better would have been to work in that story about two similar watches Joseph Smith gave Emma and I forget who else. Emma demanded the lady hand it over.
On a less snarky note, I don't doubt that there were real moments of tenderness between Joseph and Emma. They had a complicated, problematic relationship, no doubt there, but they were also pretty bonded to each other in ways I don't completely understand yet. Nevertheless, I doubt a scene like this is the best representation; I don't think it was that common for a man to brush his wife's hair for many reasons (I could be wrong, but I'm just going on what I know of 19thC feminine domestic habits). If I were commissioned to paint such a scene I could think of many other situations, both more historically, and perhaps emotionally, accurate. Emma tutoring Joseph (my guess is as an educated woman and former teacher, she helped Joseph Smith with his reading and writing), Joseph consoling Emma after the loss of their first child, Alvin, Joseph watching and marveling at Emma's resourcefulness in caring for the sick and indigent at Nauvoo House, even a diptych of the two of them writing letters to each other.
Anyway. I think this painting is a Swindle in more ways than one.