PLATE IV HETTEY MARIA LORD BURRITT Henry Walton 1840 Watercolor on ivory 2/ 1 2 Collection of the New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown Signed "Painted by H. Walton/Ithaca 1840" The subject was born in Ithaca, New York, on January 1, 1819, to Harley and Hettey Smith Lord. On January 30, 1839, she married Joseph C. Burritt of Ithaca, who was also the subject of a miniature on ivory by Walton.
ing on the top rail of a chair, is seen in his oil paintings of Angelina Pike Content, the younger John Totten, Mary Ann Totten, Abraham Cole Totten, Mr. Newton, and Mr. Britton. Also evident in the miniature is the use of strong color, the great attention to details of jewelry—including the brooch, which is present in almost all Bradley portraits—and great concern with features of the subject's hair and face, particularly the unusually high eyebrows over heavy eyelids. The parklike background in the miniature may represent Central Park in New York City, where Bradley lived for at least twelve years. Finding this painting was most exciting, for although Bradley is listed as both a portrait and miniature painter in the New York City directories of 1836 through 1847, we were unaware of the actual existence of any of his miniatures. Photographs of the painting were sent to Mary Black, who, with Stuart Feld, in 1966 had written the definitive article on Bradley.8 She replied that she, too, knew of no other Bradley portraits of this type. However, in December 1986, a second Bradley miniature of an unidentified lady was donated to the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center. A watercolor on ivory, it differs from the other in that it is not oval but an almost-square plaque, measuring 1'3/16 by 19/16 inches; also, it is not in a metal locket, but in its original velvet-lined leather-covered case (see Plate II). Inscribed with ink on a piece of paper glued to the back of the ivory is the following: "I. Bradley/Pinxit/128 Spring S/1837." The subject, shown shoulder-length in a black dress, is centrally placed in front of a speckled blue-gray background, and a bright blue drape, similar to those seen in several of Bradley's large portraits, is present in the left upper corner. Like the other miniature, the subject is turned in a three-quarter view, and her eyebrows are high above heavy upper eyelids, and great attention is paid to details. Not seen in either miniature is the outlining of the figure with white paint, a device used by Bradley in a number of his large portraits. To the present time, these two are the only known miniatures by Bradley, who generally signed his portraits prior to 1838 with the archaic "I," and the later ones with "J." The earliest published mention of him in folk art literature was in 1942, when Jean Lipman included his name as follows in a list of known American primitive painters: "I. Bradley, Locale—probably Philadelphia, Pa., Date-1830, Subject—Portrait, Medium—Oil."9 Three years later, Lipman reported on four signed portraits, on the basis of which she attributed forty-five additional portraits to him;'° none of these were miniatures. In 1966, Mary Black and Stuart Feld's report on Bradley pointed out that none of the fortyfive attributions could be accepted; twenty-nine were attributed by them to Ammi Phillips, and the remainder to Erastus Salisbury Field and three unknown artists. They did record eighteen additional portraits, all signed by I. or J.
Bradley; none of these were miniatures. Of significance is their statement that "John Bradley consistently signed his portraits, and no unsigned pictures can be convincingly attributed to him." Since their 1966 article, ten additional signed large oil-on-canvas portraits by Bradley have been reported)" 12 Although his position as a leading folk painter of the nineteenth century has long been established, little is known concerning the artist's life. His country of origin is apparent from the inscription "Drawn by Bradley From Great Britton," found on five of his portraits of members of the Totten family. Exactly when he emigrated to America is still to be determined. It has been suggested that his three smallest known paintings, dated 1831 and 1832, were probably painted while still in England.'3 If so, since his portrait of Asher Androvette, a resident of Staten Island, is also dated 1832, he must have made the crossing that year.14 On the other hand, it has been proposed that he may have been the man who came to America from Ireland aboard the Carolina Ann in 1826.° Support for the painter's Irish origin is found in his portrait of Margaretta Hull Bowne Crawford, who sits at a pianoforte; the title of the sheet music on the rack is so clearly depicted that it can be read without difficulty—"The Angel's Whisper," a popular Irish ballad.16 Black and Feld have pointed out that a John Bradley, who may have been related to the painter, resided on Staten Island from 1830 to his death in May 1838. In addition, the 1835 New York State census lists a William Bradley, resident of Staten Island, with three "aliens" living in his home." It is likely that the painter, after his arrival from England, lived with one or both of these Staten Island Bradley families and subsequently began his painting there. At some time prior to 1836, he would have moved to New York City, where he was active as a portraitist for the next twelve years. At times, he probably visited Staten Island, Newton Hook, and New Jersey as an itinerant painter, or some of his subjects from those towns may have had their portraits painted while visiting New York City. In May 1833, Bradley painted the portraits of Captain and Mrs. John Cole, also residents of Staten Island; seven months later, his subjects were Mr. and Mrs. Simon Content of New York City; and in 1834, he was active again on Staten Island, where he did portraits of five members of the Totten family and two members of the Ellis family. No paintings from 1835 have been found, but in 1836, the year he was listed in the New York City Directory at 56 Hammersley Street, he did eight portraits, one of which may have been of a man who lived in Newton Hook, New York (about one hundred miles north of New York City); several others were of people from New Jersey. The only known portraits dated 1837 are the two miniatures we have reported plus one large oil-on-canvas portrait of an
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