Regardless of Whittier's comments, judging by the standards of present-day admirers of early nineteenth-century folk paintings, Peckham was a master. He used different media and portrayed a variety of subjects. Unlike artists such as Belknap and Prior, he seems not to have had a standard format for any type of subject. He apparently tried to create something new with each individual work. If all of Deacon Robert Peckham's known and attributed paintings were gathered in one exhibition, his status as one of the master rural artists of early nineteenth-century America would undoubtedly be confirmed. *
David Krashes is an entrepreneur metallurgist. He is a member ofthe American Folk Art Society and has written articles onfolk paintingfor the Maine Antiques Digest(January 1985)and this publication (The Clarion, Summer 1990). He and his wife have been collectingfolk paintings and antiquefurniturefor more than forty years.
NOTES 1 Celia Bragdon,"Deacon Robert Peckham of Westminster, Massachusetts: His Life and Work," master's thesis, 1973 (filed in Forbush Memorial Library, Westminster, Massachusetts). Ann Howard,"Deacon Peckham's World of Art," paper for Westminster Historical Society, not dated (filed in Forbush Memorial Library). 2 See my article "Robert Peckham: Portrait Painter of Massachusetts," Maine Antiques Digest, vol. XV, no. 1 (January 1985), pp. 22D-24D. 3 Clara Endicott Sears, Some American Primitives: A Study ofNew England Faces and Folk Portraits(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1941), p. 84. 4 Georgia B. Bumgardner,"The Early Career of Ethan Allen Greenwood— Itinerancy in New England and New York," Dublin Seminarfor New England Folklife—Annual Proceedingsfor 1984 (Boston: Boston University, 1986), p. 221. 5 Laura C. Luckey,"The Portraits of Robert Peckham," The Magazine Antiques, vol. CXXXIV. no. 3(September 1988), pp. 550-557. 6 Bragdon, op. cit.
7 See Dale T. Johnson,"Deacon Robert Peckham: 'Delineator of the Human Face Divine'." The American Art Journal(The Kennedy Galleries, New York), vol. XI, no. 1 (January 1979), pp. 27-36. 8 Luckey, op. cit. 9 Marguerite Riordan, letter to the author, October 13,1994. 10 These works include portraits of the artist's son Henry,seated and holding a writing tablet; a son and daughter whose hands are not visible; and a blue-clad daughter, seated and holding a baby dressed in pink. 11 Where Liberty Dwells(Buffalo, N.Y.: Albright-Knox Gallery with the University of Connecticut, 1976), Figure 20. 12 Jessica Nicoll, Meet Your Neighbors: New England Portraits, Painters & Society, 1790-1850(Sturbridge, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 1992). 13 Elisabeth Donaghy Garrett,"The American Home," The Magazine Antiques, vol. CXXIII, no. 1 (January 1983), p. 215. 14 John Greenleaf Whittier, 1880 letter to Dr. Crowell, filed in Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
THE HAPPY ABSTEMIOUS FAMILY (TEMPERANCE) 1840-1850 Oil on panel 5N 7 VS" From the Collections of the Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts. 1977.665
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