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Indian Widow was a title used by the painter, but a longer and more descriptive title also exists, The Widow of an Indian Chief Watching the Arms of Her Deceased Husband. According to Benedict Nicolson, in clothing the figure of the widow, Wright "has fallen back on those well-worn neo-classic draperies which served for any distressed female". Nicolson finds that other details, however, are more authentic: "the form of her head-band, the treatment of the feathers, the quilled cords and knife-sheath, and the buffalo-robe painted on the skin side show knowledge of Indian technology from at least as far west as the upper Great Lakes: this proves that Wright used authentic props". The concept of the Noble Savage, applied to Native Americans, was all the more popular in Britain in the 1780s when Americans of European origin could be regarded as rebels.
In contrast with Wright's paintings of candlelit scenes, here the main figure is seen silhouetted against sunlight and a stormy sky.
Noble Savage