Modern · Smithsonian American Art Museum · saam_1973.56
La Petite Pensee
Thomas Ball, modeled ca. 1867
Smithsonian American Art Museum · Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase · CC0 · Public domain
- Artist
- Thomas Ball
- Date
- modeled ca. 1867
- Medium
- marble
- Dimensions
- 15 5/8 x 12 7/8 x 8 3/4 in. (39.7 x 32.7 x 22.2 cm)
- Era
- Modern
Why it matters
Thomas Ball’s eight-year-old niece, Annie Chickering, posed for this sculpture in the late 1860s. The figure appears deep in thought, gazing down at the pansies and lilies on her bodice. The title of the piece is likely a pun combining the words “pansy” and pensée, which means “thought.” The sculpture also illustrates a line from act 4 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in which Ophelia says to Laertes: “. . . and there is pansies, that’s for thoughts.”