Sold Items Page 1 | Page 2
 |
|
||||
|
Zedekiah Belknap was an itinerant portrait painter working in VT, NH, MA and New York City. He was born in Auburn (formerly Ward) MA but grew up and was buried in Weathersfield, VT. He came from a family of farmers and was the only one to attend college, graduating from Dartmouth with a divinity degree in 1807. Although a family document states that he served as a chaplain in the War of 1812, that is the only record of him having pursued a career in the ministry, although it has been speculated that he combined circuit preaching with painting. He appears to have had no formal art training, and his first known portraits date to the year of his Dartmouth graduation. He continued to paint until at least 1848. (See Elizabeth R. Mankin, "Zedekiah Belknap," The Magazine Antiques vol. 110, November, 1976, pgs. 1056-1070 and Beatrix Rumford, American Folk Portraits in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation: 1981, pg 57.) Today, Zedekiah Belknap's portraits are in major Folk Art collections, including the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, the Fenimore Art Museum, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, as well as many important private collections. William Gerdts in his well-known 3-volume work, Art Across America, uses Belknap's portrait of Sarah Minot Melville of ca. 1830 on the dust cover of volume 1, The East and the Mid-Atlantic. After attempting an academic style in his early career, Belknap quickly developed his "folk art" formula: boldly outlined figures and features, with little modeling; one side of the nose visible and outlined with a reddish shadow; and lavish details of costume and hairstyle. A date of 1833 or 1838 is written among the lace of Isobel's bonnet. The earlier date seems more likely on the basis of the style of her dress, which predates 1835, when women's dress shoulders collapsed "overnight," according to Alden O'Brien, Curator of Costume and Textiles at the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington, DC. The portrait is in its original grain painted frame, probably executed by Belknap himself. The canvas is unlined and there is minor in-painting throughout. |
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
The portrait of Joseph Saunders Lewis bore an attribution to Rembrandt Peale, of the illustrious Philadelphia family of artists, when it was with the Kennedy Gallery in New York. Although it is not signed, the brushwork, as well as the format and demeanor of the subject, does in fact resemble the work of Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860), the second artist son of Charles Wilson Peale, (1741-1827) although recent scholars have questioned the attribution. Joseph Saunders Lewis (1778-1836) was the son of the prominent Quaker businessman, Mordecai Lewis, and his wife Hannah Saunders Lewis. His father owned seven ships in the East India trade; Mordecai's name was on much of the currency issued by the Continental army in 1776. He also served as Director of the Bank of North America, the Philadelphia Library, and the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire, the country's first fire insurance company. Joseph Saunders Lewis married Frances Montgomery in 1800 and followed his grandfather and father as Director of the Philadelphia Contributionship, serving from 1805-1817, when he became treasurer of the company. He was also active in civic affairs, being honored by his fellow citizens in 1826, when he was presented with a print of Thomas Doughty's painting of the Fairmont Waterworks inscribed by a number of his fellow citizens as " a tribute of respect and gratitude for the eminent service he has rendered to the City of Philadelphia." |
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
This bust-length portrait of an unidentified man was painted by Samuel Bell Waugh, who was born in Mercer, PA, and studied art in Italy, France, England and New York before settling in Philadelphia and becoming one of that city's best known portrait painters. He was the father of the well-known sea and landscape painter, Frederick Judd Waugh (1861-1940). Waugh exhibited widely in his own lifetime at The Boston Athenaeum, The National Academy of Design in New York and The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, among other places. Today his work is in the collections of at least nine museums, including the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., The New York Historical Society, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. (See New York Historical Society, Dictionary of American Artists, pg. 666.) The portrait has been re-lined and is in excellent condition. It is housed in an extraordinary 19th century carved gilt frame. |
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
Jacob Eichholtz gave up his craft oriented business in Lancaster, PA to work in Philadelphia after having sought the advice of Thomas Sully and Gilbert Stuart. Eichholtz enjoyed a successful portraiture business painting the images of prominent members of America's rising middle class. Eichholtz' portraits are in at least twenty-one museums, including the National Gallery in Washington D.C., the Metropolitan in New York, and the Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Detroit Art Museums. Eichholtz did not always record his commissions or sign his paintings, though we do know that he was a prolific artist. Many works, therefore, have been attributed to him on the basis of style and provenance. In this case, an old inscription on the verso identifies the sitter as, "My great-uncle, Robert McClure," and is signed "Grandmother." The portrait is in excellent condition. The period frame has been recently repaired. |
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
Jacob Eichholtz, gave up his craft oriented business in Lancaster, PA to work in Philadelphia after having sought the advice of Thomas Sully and Gilbert Stuart. Eichholtz enjoyed a successful portraiture business painting the images of prominent members of America's rising middle class. Eichholtz' portraits are in at least twenty-one museums, including the National Gallery in Washington D.C., the Metropolitan in New York, and the Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Detroit Art Museums. Eichholtz did not always record his commissions or sign his paintings, though we do know that he was a prolific artist. Many works, therefore, have been attributed to him on the basis of style and provenance. This picture bears an old attribution to Eichholtz, which also identified it as a Self-Portrait. The panel is in excellent condition and the paint surface is intact. The frame is modern. |
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
Although unsigned, Clarke family papers claim that this portrait was painted by Rembrandt Peale; an attribution consistent with its style. The painting descended in the Clarke family until 1982, when it was given to the High Museum in Atlanta by Mrs. Francis Pickens Bacon. The High Museum de-accessioned the piece in 2004, when it was sold at Sotheby's to benefit acquisition funds. While in the possession of the High Museum, the portrait of General Clarke was placed on loan to the Art in Embassies Program, where it hung in the residence of Ambassador and Mrs. Gordon D. Giffin in Ottawa, Canada in the late 1990's. Rembrandt Peale was the most prominent of the six children of Charles Wilson Peale, all of who became well-known artists. Like his renowned father, Rembrandt painted portraits, was one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and was interested in natural history. He also opened the first Peale museum in Baltimore, along with his older brother, Raphaelle. By 1795, at the age of 17, Rembrandt had painted President George Washington from life. Throughout his career he sought to produce the most fitting image of Washington; in the 1840's & '50's he produced over seventy replicas of his idealized portrait of the hero. Born in Bucks County, PA while his father was in Valley Forge serving with General Washington, Rembrandt worked in several east coast cities, including Charleston and Savannah, and traveled to Europe five times during his long and prolific life, most of which was spent in Philadelphia. Elijah Clarke was the most celebrated Georgia hero of the Revolutionary War, participating in both sieges of Augusta, and fighting with Andrew Pickens and "Light Horse Harry" Lee during the final battle of the city in 1781, which is perhaps depicted by the distant flames in the right background of the portrait. He also fought at the battles of Alligator Creek, Kettle Creek, Musgrove's Mill, Blackstocks, and Beattie's Mill, to name a few. Clarke became Brigadier General of Militia in 1786, and Major General of the Third Division of the Georgia state militia in 1792. After the war, he served in the Georgia state assembly from 1781-1790 and acted as Georgia's commissioner of treaties with Native Americans. For his war service, he was granted a plantation in Wilkes County, GA. In 1794, impatient with the failures of national and state governments to bring peace to the frontier, Clarke took matters into his own hands, and attempted to form an independent state in western Florida, the short-lived Transoconee Republic. Nevertheless, he retained his hero status in Georgia until his death in 1799. The portrait is in superb condition and in a period frame, under glass. |
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
Robert Street, born in Germantown, PA, was active in the Philadelphia art community throughout his career, showing his work at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts as early as 1817, when he would have been twenty-one years old. By 1824, he had shown his work in Washington, DC, and had painted a portrait of Andrew Jackson that was later hung in the White House. In 1834, Street painted a portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, who was then living in Bordentown, NJ. Street collected old master paintings and copies of the great masters of western European art. In 1840, these were included in an exhibition at The Artists Fund Hall in Philadelphia, along with 172 of his own paintings. His work was shown in major exhibitions throughout his career in Philadelphia and in New York. Street also painted landscapes, genre, and history subjects, as well as portraits. Today, Robert Street's work is included in the collections of major museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the National Gallery of Art, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Butler Institute of American Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Seated in a carved mahogany Empire style sofa, Street's young man holds a copy of the "Civil Architect" in his hands, connoting his professional identity. He is also wearing the uniform of a midshipman, the youngest ranking officers in the US navy. One can only presume that this fellow will bring his knowledge of architecture and engineering to the service of his country. The column in the background echoes the confident, military posture of the sitter. This painting was published in the Kennedy Quarterly v. 4, No. 3, in 1964, and illustrated on pg. 146. It remained in the collection of the Kennedy Galleries until 2005. The canvas has received re-tensioning treatment and has scattered in-painting throughout. It is in what appears to be its original gilt frame. |
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
Although the identity of both artist and sitter in this portrait is unknown, the dignity of the pose and the furnishings (the carved and silk upholstered chair and the background drapery) indicate he was a man of some means, perhaps from one of the metropolitan centers of the United States, as the painter has clearly received classical art training. Condition: The painting was stabilized in recent years by attaching the canvas to a masonite support. There are no apparent losses to the surface and the period gilt frame has only very minor abrasions. |
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
Mary Louisa Haines, the daughter of Richard T. Haines, married William M. Halsted on February 20, 1851. Her husband became the president of Halsted, Haines and Company, a successful textile importing firm. In 1852 she gave birth to a son, William Stewart Halsted, who became a prominent physician, a pioneer in surgical medicine and anesthesia, and one of the founders of Johns Hopkins Medical School's teaching program. She was a committed Presbyterian. Richard Creifelds lived and worked in NYC where he studied and exhibited at the National Academy of Design. He also studied at the Royal Academy, Munich and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts among other places. Today his work is found at St. Andrews Church and the 107th Street Armory in NYC, the Montauk Club in Brooklyn, and at the NY Court of Appeals in Albany. |
|||||
 |
|
||||
 |
|
||||
|
The identity of this determined young lady is unknown, as is the artist. The portrait is housed in a simple gilt frame. The condition of the painting is good. However, there is a slight bubbling of the paint surface in the upper left corner. |
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
Although a deaf-mute from birth, Brewster was a successful itinerant portrait painter in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Missouri. Best known for his beguiling portraits of children, Brewster also painted numerous adults with the same attention to design and penetrating gazes. Truly one of the most beloved of Folk Art painters, he was the subject of an exhibition entitled, A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster, Jr., at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY in 2005, and at the American Folk Art Museum in 2006. Brewster's paintings can be found in a dozen major museums as well as in numerous prestigious collections throughout the country. The sitter bears a resemblance to Brewster's stepmother, Ruth Avery Brewster, who is depicted in his double portrait in the Old Sturbridge Village Collection, albeit considerably older. (See Harlan Lane, A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster, Jr., plate 3.) The portrait is housed in a mustard painted frame, highlighted with daubs of red paint, which may be original to the picture. It was deaccessioned by the Lyman Allen Museum in New London, CN. The painting has been re-lined and treated for paint losses in the background. |
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
This unidentified lady was most likely painted by the Jacob Eichholtz, who gave up his craft oriented business in Lancaster, PA to work in Philadelphia after having sought the advice of Thomas Sully and Gilbert Stuart. Eichholtz enjoyed a successful portraiture business painting the images of prominent members of America's rising middle class. Eichholtz did not always record his commissions or sign his paintings though we do know that he was a prolific artist. Therefore, many works have been attributed to him on the basis of style and provenance. Provenance: Tumbleston Family (Philadelphia); Estate of Philadelphia Judge Eugene Alessandroni (1887-1966); to Bernard Feuerstein; to John C. Tuten. According to Mr. Feuerstein, the name Eichholtz was written on the back of the old stretcher, which he replaced. Documents relating it's history are available with purchase. Eichholtz' portraits are in at least 21 museums, including the National Gallery, the Metropolitan, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Detroit Art Museums. This "Portrait of a Lady" is in excellent condition, having been relined and having had only minor restoration. The period frame has minor losses to the left edge, which can be repaired for an additional fee. |
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
The portrait is in the style of the "patroon" painters who were active in the New York area from about 1715-1730, serving primarily wealthy Dutch families. Typical of the style is the flat figure placed against a dark background, stylized forms outlined in black and, especially, the long-necked dog who looks woefully up at his mistress. The painting is in its original black wood frame with a gold insert, which has warped with age. There are repairs to the paint layer in the background. |
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
Thomas Sully was one of the foremost portraitist of early 19th century America. Born in England in 1783, he immigrated with his theatrical family to Charleston, South Carolina at the age of nine. A precocious talent, he studied painting with his brother, Lawrence, in Virginia and eventually managed to have his work critiqued by Gilbert Stuart, whose style influenced Sully throughout his career. With the exception of seven years in Virginia and two years in England, where a syndicate of patrons sent him to paint and study, Sully made his home in Philadelphia. He taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and recorded the images of prominent citizens in Philadelphia and other major east coast cities. The painting's condition is excellent. It has recently received a light cleaning and re-varnishing, and the original gesso frame has been cleaned and skillfully repaired. |
|||||
Page 1 | Page 2
Men | Women | Young People | Pairs | Groups | Figurative Paintings | Landscapes | Seascapes | Still Life