welovepaintings: Abbott Handerson Thayer My Children (Mary, Gerald, and Gladys Thayer) 1897 Oil on canvas 86 1/4 x 61 1/8 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum ___ Abbott Handerson Thayer, known for his paintings of angels, often used his children as models. Referring to My Children, Thayer wrote of his aim to show “three blissfully exalted children” in a way that “puts beauty to the eye first, and the idea last.”