I love this painting more as the years pass. I did three paintings of these girls. Their parents have two and I have this one, which hangs above my desk.

I remember when I had this painting near complete, minus the doll, I felt it needed a toy. I considered an upturned baby carriage, but because that would be too big, I chose this period doll from the toy box in our basement. Amazingly, the girls’ mother owned an identical Lady Alexander doll when she was child. When she first saw the painting, she looked right past her little daughters and exclaimed, “Dorothy!” Some toys are timeless.