Lot Details
Lot 2008
American School 19th Century Portrait of a Gentleman and Portrait of a Lady: Two
19th Century
Portrait of a Gentleman and Portrait of a Lady: Two
Oil on canvas laid to masonite
36 1/4 x 28 1/4 inches
These handsome unsigned portraits have traditionally been ascribed to the hand of John Wesley Jarvis, one of the leading portrait painters in New York City in the first decades of the nineteenth century. Indeed, the fine handling of the face and skin as well as the elegant brushwork would appear to support this attribution. Depicted in costume fashionable around 1834, these date from a period when Jarvis' career was beginning to pale in the face of active competition from other painters including Samuel F. B. Morse, Henry Inman, and Samuel Lovett Waldo.
In the treatment of draperies and division of canvas, the paintings are also evocative of the work of Samuel F. B. Morse, who, like Jarvis, was highly regarded in New York City but traveled widely in search of portrait commissions. In 1834, Morse, a founder and president of the National Academy of Design, was appointed to the unpaid position of professor of sculpture and painting at the nascent University of the City of New York. Unable to support himself as a painter, he was already conducting experiments that soon led to his invention of the telegraph.
Regardless of their authorship, these are soigne portraits of a dapper, urbane couple.
Additional Notes & Condition Report
ii. Lady: Frame rubbing. Laid to masonite; surface is quite flattened.
Any condition statement is given as a courtesy to a client, is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Doyle New York shall have no responsibility for any error or omission. The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of aging.
No condition report? Click here to request one.