So, I’m a little confused over something. I’d love your thoughts! Which of the Thorn girls are in the first two paintings below with Ellen? Alice or Ida?
The Frick collection notes say it’s the Countess de Ferussac (Alice), but in his biography Healey refers to painting the two youngest Thorn girls, which would make it Ida. I’ve tried comparing pictures, and honestly, I think it might be Ida and Ellen – not Alice (who is supposedly in the bottom one with Jane). Ida was still alive in 1857, but she was only about 14 or 15. At that time, Alice would have been 27 or 28.