Quaker Meeting is an oil painting residing in the British art collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It shows a Meeting for Worship about 1790, depicted by an anonymous artist. It is unknown which Meeting it represents. A mixture of Friends, male and female, old and young, sit pensively. Rather than Quaker gray or brown, they wear a variety of colors, including red, blue and purple. Ministers and Overseers perch above on the facing bench. His hat hanging on a peg above him, a Friend stands sharing a message. (Quakers in those times removed their hats before speaking in Meeting).
Quaker Meeting is an appealing portrait of Friends. It looks like many Meetings for Worship in which I have participated. I especially like the older gentleman in the blue coat, on the lower right, who is grinning.
Gary Sandman
March 2026