Small Portraits

Probably New England. Circa 1835-1840.

#1976

Drama, intensity, directness, confrontation. Not terms of endearment but words of description of one of the most unusual small portraitr I have ever seen. They stand facing each other, are portrayed 1/2 length, are almost monochrome in palette but filled with small details of costume.

I want to say it is a contest: who will blink first, who will step back, speak? They arre so still, so silent. Their eyes meet and hold. She holds a book in her hand, level, facing him. He tucks his hand inside his jacket, in refusal to accept it? There is not background but the small embellishment that seem to indicate age. She is 28. He is 31, each a number painted beneath the figure.

This is one of the most unusual and memorable small portraits I have ever encountered.

Sight 7 x 4 3/4 inches, in what is probably their original frame. Probably New England or New York State. Circa 1835. Watercolor, graphite and ink on paper. Has been washed and de-acidified by Paper Conservation Studio, New York City. No damage.

#2266

SOLD

This work, a portrait of a woman, is mounted in a book made especially for the purpose of holding and preserving it. The covers are 8 3/4 x 9 7/8. Ink drawing of a cobweb with a spider in the corner, a bee and Swiss script text decorate it. Inside a label identifies it as made in Innsbruck of cobweb. Behind an pale blue mat and with a cover sheet to protect it further, a beautiful woman is made of colored threads of cobweb attached to an oval of glass, 5 x 3 1/2 inches.

#2244

By an unidentified artist, shown in profile, and holding a colorful bouquet of flowers. New England circa 1830.

#1491

SOLD

drawn in graphite on paper and in their original gilded rope-twist- decorated and corner embellished frames and behind their original reverse-painted black and gold glass mats.

They are the work of Demarest (previously thought to be Abraham Demarest) and are probably from the New Jersey or Maryland area and made circa 1820-1825.

The figures are drawn in profile and are half-length in pose. Features are well-outlined and form is shown through moderate shading of facial contours.The younger sitter is in a bamboo-turned windsor chair.

Framed dimensions are 7 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches and the site height of the drawn image itself is 3 1/4 inches.

#2196