A Morning Vision

The influence of the French muralist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes is evident in this painting's muted pastel palette, idealized classicism, and delicate floral decorative motifs. The high horizon and flattened background accentuate the foreground which contains a mother and child accompanied by three angelic figures. Walker would have been especially conscious of Puvis's work in 1895, for the French artist was engaged in a series of murals for the Boston Public Library. "A Morning Vision" won the Thomas B. Clarke Prize for excellence in figure painting when it was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1895. The critic Royal Cotrissoz noted, "The point of view is exalted, the style is sensitive, imbued with the influence of imagination, and the effect is one of fragile beauty throughout."