Intimate Keepsakes: American Portrait Miniatures

Intimate keepsakes American portrait miniatures

A gift from Charles A. Gilday

By Susan Strickler and Tamar Krichevsky Intimate keepsakes American portrait miniatures A gift from Charles A. Gilday Copyright © 2018 by the Currier Museum of Art Currier Museum of Art Manchester, New Hampshire Currier.org ISBN 978-0-929710-43-3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank Carol Aiken, objects conservator and portrait miniature scholar, who not only treated all the miniatures in the Gilday and Currier collections, but also answered our numerous questions. The staff of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester – one of the great libraries of American history and culture – provided guidance with our research. At the Worcester Art Museum, thanks go to Rita Albertson and Sarah Gillis. At the Manchester Historic Association, we thank Daniel Peters and Jeffrey Barraclough. At the Currier Museum, we thank Andrew Spahr, Karen Papineau, Meghan Petersen, Barbara Jaus, Vanessa De Zorzi, Jeff Allen, Karl Hutchins, and Alan Chong.

Illustrations on pages 11 and 15: courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester.

Charles A. Gilday Charles Gilday has collected miniature portraits for sixty years.

From the outset, he was naturally drawn to portraiture and initially bought small portraits painted on canvas or panel before discovering miniatures painted in watercolor on ivory.

Gilday was introduced to miniatures by Marika Raisz, who owned an antiques shop on Charles Street in Boston. He visited the shop most Saturdays for fifty years. Buying from her and then from other dealers, he assembled more than five hundred miniatures. He focused primarily on American examples dating from the 1760s to the 1850s. Only in recent years did he acquire works from the miniature revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Out of his collecting and research came three important articles written in collaboration with Randall Holton on Boston miniature painters: Clarissa Peters Russell and her husband, Moses B. Russell, and Sarah Goodrich.

In recent years Charles Gilday has dispersed his collection to museums and historical societies in New England. The Currier received twenty-six miniatures. Many are by artists who worked in Boston, the artistic center of New England during these years. A number of artists and sitters have connections to New Hampshire. The gift from Charles Gilday now enables the Currier to tell a fascinating chapter in the remarkable history of American art and culture. The museum is very much indebted to this visionary collector and friend.

Illustration: David Kenefick (born 1953), Portrait of Charles A. Gilday, 2015, oil on canvas, 31⁄2 x 21⁄2 in. Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.2

Articles by Charles A. Gilday and Randall L. Holton “Mrs. Moses B. Russell, Boston Miniaturist,” Antiques (Dec. 1999).

“Moses B. Russell, Yankee miniaturist,” Antiques (Nov. 2002).

“Sarah Goodrich: Mapping places in the heart,” Antiques (Nov./Dec. 2012).

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Portrait miniatures in America American portrait miniatures find their antecedents in sixteenth-century England during the reign of Henry VIII. The earliest miniatures in England were painted in opaque watercolor on vellum. In the early 1700s vellum was replaced by thinly sliced pieces of translucent ivory which artists found enlivened the flesh tones of their sitters.

In America, this intimate art form enjoyed its heyday from the 1760s to the 1850s. The earliest miniatures painted in colonial America measured not more than about an inch and a half in height and were housed in gold lockets. By the 1790s the scale of the miniatures increased to about two to three inches. Worn by both men and women as keepsakes, the ivory likenesses were commissioned at the time of an engagement or wedding, an impending separation from a loved one, or simply when a miniaturist advertised that he was setting up a practice in town. By the 1820s and 1830s a growing percentage of miniatures were painted on slightly larger, rectangular slices of ivory and framed in hinged leather cases that could be carried or displayed on a tabletop.

In the early 1840s the invention of daguerreotype photography provided an alternative to miniature painting as a quicker, less expensive means of portraiture. The fact that this new form of photography was advertised in business directories as “daguerreotype miniatures� is an indication of the competition between the two forms of portraiture. In addition, the hinged leather cases that usually housed daguerreotypes resembled the cases of miniature portraits.

Top: Edward Greene Malbone, Portrait of a Man, 1796–99. Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.15 Bottom: Boston Almanac, 1851.

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Miniature revival Starting in the 1890s miniature painting experienced a revival that lasted well into the 1940s.

Some of these later miniaturists – the majority of whom were women – looked to the precedence of framing a half-length portrait in a metal locket. Others created miniatures with more complex compositions that seemed more like tiny easel paintings and were as large as five inches with elaborate frames intended to be hung on the wall.

This revival coincided with the founding in 1899 of the American Society of Miniature Painters, with affiliates in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington, and elsewhere. The societies not only provided an outlet for the artists but also engendered public interest in the art form. It was during the revival period that collectors and scholars began to rediscover historic miniatures as an important art form of the early republic.

Lucia Fairchild Fuller, Sturgis, 1915. Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.3

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John Singleton Copley (1738–1815), attributed to Portrait of a Man 1760s watercolor on ivory, gold locket 19⁄16 x 15⁄16 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2017.33

This elegant, direct portrait of a gentleman has a history of Boston ownership. It has been attributed variously to Copley or to his half-brother, Henry Pelham (1749–1805), who was likely tutored by Copley in the art of painting on ivory. The attribution to Copley is most likely because the miniature compares closely in technique and approach to his miniature of Deborah Scollay Melville of 1762. Both were painted in a similar color scheme, show similar treatment of the dark backgrounds, and share a comparable level of detail in the delineation of facial features and clothing. Both miniatures also demonstrate a rich, opaque application of the watercolor that more closely resembles the use of oil than watercolor, which would be expected as Copley painted primarily in oil.

Copley is considered the first native-born New England artist to have painted miniatures. He painted most of them in the 1760s, by which time he was fully recognized as America’s most talented portrait painter. As with his work in all media, Copley was self-taught as a miniature painter, yet he set a high standard.

John Singleton Copley, Deborah Scollay Melville, 1762, watercolor on ivory, 11⁄4 x 1 in.

Worcester Art Museum, 1917.184

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John Trumbull (1756–1843) Judge Samuel Livermore 1792 oil on wood 4 x 31⁄8 in.

Museum Purchase, 1946.4

Samuel Livermore (1732–1803) represented New Hampshire in the Continental Congress, House of Representatives, and Senate. He was also Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court from 1782 to 1789. A paper attached to the back of the wood panel, perhaps written in the artist’s hand, states that Livermore sat at Trumbull’s request in 1792 in Philadelphia, then the seat of the United States government. The immediacy and informality of the portrait supports the notion that it was painted from life. This was one of many small-scale portraits Trumbull painted as preparatory sketches for a large-scale composition celebrating George Washington’s first inauguration in 1789, a painting that never came to fruition.

A graduate of Harvard College and an aide-de-camp to Washington during the Revolutionary War, Trumbull began as a portrait painter but aspired to paint more important historical scenes, especially of events connected with the founding years of the United States.

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John Ramage (1748–1802) Portrait of a Man about 1785 watercolor on ivory, gilded copper locket 2 x 11⁄2 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.22

The identity of this sitter is not known, but he was probably an affluent gentleman from New York, where Ramage worked from about 1778 to 1794. The artist achieved convincing results by applying transparent watercolor washes and then drawing the details of the costume in gray lines – the buttons, cravat, embroidery on the vest – and strands of the sitter’s powdered hair.

He used only a little shading in the face to suggest rounded form.

Born in Ireland, John Ramage enrolled in Dublin’s Society Schools in 1763 before moving to London and then settling in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1772. He is listed as a miniature painter and goldsmith in Boston by 1775. Within a short time, he settled in New York City where he became the leading miniaturist to a distinguished clientele. However, his fortunes later declined, and Ramage fled creditors for Montreal, where he died in poverty.

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Edward Greene Malbone (1777–1807) Portrait of a Man 1796–99 watercolor on ivory, gilded copper locket 21⁄2 x 21⁄8 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.15

The technique of this portrait places it in the earlier part of Edward Malbone’s short career.

The artist used delicate hatching to render the contours of the face of this refined gentleman, who appears solemn and introspective. Long gray brush strokes suggest gathering clouds in the distant sky.

During his brief thirty years, Malbone rose to become one of his generation’s most accomplished miniature painters. Born in Newport, Rhode Island, and essentially self-taught, he began painting miniatures by age seventeen. He settled in Boston by 1796 and then traveled to Philadelphia, New York, and Charleston, seeking commissions. In 1801 he visited England for a few months to study the work of British artists. For the last five years of his life Malbone worked in major East Coast cities before he died of consumption.

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William Verstille (1755–1803) Portrait of a Woman about 1800 watercolor on ivory, modern locket 115⁄16 x 11⁄2 in. signed lower right: Verstille Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.19

Tradition suggests the sitter may be Mary Ingersoll Bowditch (1781–1834), second wife of Nathaniel Bowditch (1773–1838), a renowned mathematician, credited as the founder of modern navigation. The Bowditches lived in Salem, Massachusetts at the time of their marriage in 1800, when Verstille may well have worked there. Whoever the sitter, she has the large, piercing eyes; long, thin brows; and a slightly curled mouth, typical of Verstille’s style.

Born in Boston, William Verstille lived for many years near Wethersfield, Connecticut. During the Revolutionary War, he painted miniatures of several officers. Not finding adequate work to support his growing family, he sought commissions in Philadelphia and New York in the 1780s.

He then traveled back through Connecticut and southern Massachusetts, working briefly in Boston where he died.

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Parmenas Howell (1784–1808) Benjamin Driggs about 1805 watercolor on ivory, gilded copper locket 213⁄16 x 21⁄4 in. signed lower right: P. Howell Gift of Ann Graf in memory of her mother, Ann Driggs, 1997.4

Like Herman Melville, Benjamin Driggs (1773–1828) left home to try life at sea, ultimately achieving the rank of captain. On an Atlantic crossing to Portugal in 1797, his ship was confiscated by French privateers. Detained in Lisbon as the situation was being resolved, Driggs met and married Johanna Malone, the daughter of the English consul in Lisbon. They settled in New York in 1797 and started a family. Driggs returned to sea shortly afterwards captaining cargo ships between New York and Cuba, where he died. Below is Driggs’s advertisement soliciting cargo for his ship bound for Cuba.

Parmenas Howell was born in Southampton on Long Island and went to New York as a youth to study art. There, despite an early death, he developed a solid reputation as a miniature painter of men and women belonging to the mercantile class.

Left: Back of the miniature, with hair plait and cut-gold initials, “BD”.

Right: Advertisement from New York Mercantile Advertiser, June 21, 1800.

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American artist Mourning Scene 1811 watercolor on ivory, gilded copper locket 21⁄16 x 15⁄8 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2018.1

This intimate keepsake documents the loss of a loved one who was, as the banner surmounting the scene reads, “In Death Lamented as in Life Beloved.” The date of the beloved’s death, September 18, 1811, is inscribed on the tomb below the deceased’s initials, “WS”.

The scene bears many elements of traditional mourning iconography: the classical plinth supporting an urn, the weeping willows and cedars, and the figure slumped in grief. The scene is painted mostly in brown tones; only the flesh tones of the face and hands and some of the cedars are tinted in pale colors. On the reverse (see below), the beloved’s hair is plaited, with two applied hair knots that frame the initials “MG”, perhaps those of the mourner.

Mourning scenes appeared in the American colonies by the mid-1700s in miniatures, needlework pictures, and other forms of jewelry. Following George Washington’s death in 1799, when the entire nation went into mourning, they gained even greater popularity.

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American artist Portrait of a Man about 1810 watercolor on ivory, embossed locket 17⁄8 x 15⁄8 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.18

This painted profile of a man with a pompadour hair style relates to the art of silhouette or profile cutting which was enormously popular in the early 1800s.

This artist captured a detailed and warm likeness of his subject. By setting the figure against a light blue background, the artist highlighted his sitter’s distinctive hairstyle and regular facial features.

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William M. S. Doyle (1769–1824) Portrait of a Man 1813 watercolor on ivory, gilded copper locket 31⁄4 x 25⁄8 in. signed lower right: Doyle 1813 Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.2

William Doyle, who painted this stylish, even debonair sitter, was one of Boston’s most prolific and enterprising artists during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Doyle conveyed a convincing likeness of the gentleman with tousled hair, long side whiskers, and a set of large gold buttons running down the front of his jacket.

Doyle’s newspaper advertisements and broadsides promoted his many talents as a miniature painter, profile cutter, book illustrator, and maker of death masks. He was also a proprietor of the Columbian Museum, first in partnership with illustrator Daniel Bowen and later with miniaturist Henry Williams, who is also represented in this collection.

William Doyle published a broadside in 1808 to advertise the diverse types of portraits he could provide Bostonians “in the prevailing style of the day.” His portraits cost 15 to 20 dollars; miniatures 6, 15, and 20 dollars; profiles two for 25 cents.

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Henry Williams (1787–1830) Portrait of a Man in Sprigged Vest 1815 watercolor on ivory, gilded copper locket with cut gold “J” on plait of hair 33⁄8 x 25⁄8 in. signed lower left: H Williams / 1815 Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.21

The historian William Dunlap in 1834 described Henry Williams as “a small, short, self-sufficient man; very dirty and very forward and patronizing in his manner.” Yet Williams was one of Boston’s most talented miniature painters of the early 1800s, capable of creating strong characterizations of his sitters. Here, Williams demonstrates not only attention to such details as the sprigs on the vest, but also a mastery of form in rendering the contours of the head and features of the face.

A man with diverse interests, Williams was also a silhouette cutter, easel painter, engraver, author of Elements of Drawing (1814), and modeler of portraits in wax. In Boston directories in the 1820s, he is listed as an anatomist and was even referred to as a professor of electricity. He was also a co-proprietor with William Doyle of the Columbian Museum.

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Henry Williams Charles Cleveland 1827 watercolor on ivory, set in ebonized backboard 211⁄16 x 21⁄4 in. signed lower right: Williams Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.20

Charles Cleveland (1772–1872) of Norwich, Connecticut had a successful career in business, rising from a mercantile apprentice to deputy customs collector in Salem, Massachusetts and proprietor of his own brokerage business in Boston. He was a senior partner in a Boston dry goods firm when this miniature was painted. Eventually he gave up business interests for fulltime charitable work and was ordained an evangelist preacher in 1838. For the remainder of his life he was a noted educator, reformer, and abolitionist.

A comparison of these two miniatures by Henry Williams demonstrates his ability to convey individualized likenesses with insight into his sitters’ personalities. Charles Cleveland appears as a confident but affable, mature man while the younger man in the previous example seems aloof and perhaps conscious of establishing his place in society.

The miniature has been reframed in an ebonized backboard of the type used in the 1810s and 1820s. The card behind the portrait gives the sitter’s name and age: “Charles Cleveland, AE 55. Painted at Boston 1827, by H Williams.”

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Sarah Goodrich (1788–1853) Caroline L. Perkins (Mrs. William H. Gardiner) about 1823 watercolor on ivory, modern frame 215⁄16 x 23⁄8 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.6

The demure but stylish Caroline L. Perkins (1800–1867) is portrayed in a fashionable empire dress, with her red shawl complementing the blush of her cheeks and lips. She was the daughter of Boston Brahmin Thomas Handasyd Perkins, who made vast sums in the slave trade and the China trade. This miniature may commemorate her marriage in 1823 to William Howard Gardiner (1797–1883), a noted Boston lawyer and son of John S. J. Gardiner, rector of Trinity Church.

Born in rural Templeton, Massachusetts into a large family, Sarah Goodrich (also spelled Goodridge) painted in oil until Elkanah Tisdale, a miniature painter from Hartford, showed her the technique of painting on ivory. By 1818 she had opened a studio in Boston. About this time she met Gilbert Stuart, who offered her informal instruction. She painted several miniatures of Stuart and also copied a few of his portraits in miniature.

As Boston’s most accomplished miniaturist in the 1820s and 1830s, Goodrich was widely admired for her direct, individualized characterizations, executed in tight, controlled brushwork. She counted some of Boston’s most prominent citizens among her patrons, from wealthy merchants to influential academics and politicians.

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Sarah Goodrich John Adams Bates about 1822 watercolor on ivory, modern frame 4 x 3 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.7

The sitter’s identity is based upon an old label attached to the frame. He is possibly John Adams Bates (1798–1871), who lived much of his life in Charlestown, Massachusetts while he served in the United States Navy. Seafaring being the focus of his life, Bates married Susan Nickels, daughter of Captain Samuel Nickels in July 1827. Bates’ naval career spanned forty years, fifteen of them at sea. He was a naval paymaster during the Civil War.

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Sarah Goodrich Mahala Dale Page 1827 watercolor on ivory, leather case 23⁄4 x 21⁄4 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.8

Commissioned the year the sitter married Samuel D. Page, this miniature reveals Goodrich at the height of her artistic powers. Her palette is richer here than in the paler earlier portraits of Bates and Perkins. Similarly, the modeling of forms of the face is stronger in this miniature and the sense of texture more convincing.

A paper inside the case reads: “Painted by S. Goodridge; April 1827. Engd to S.P. April 2d 1827, Age 18 years, S. Page 25 years.”

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Eliza Goodridge (1798–1882) Portrait of a Woman about 1825 watercolor on ivory, gilded copper locket 3 x 21⁄4 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.5

Eliza Goodridge was a younger sister of Sarah Goodrich, from whom she certainly learned her craft. Eliza’s work is often confused with that of Sarah because they used similar palettes and brushwork techniques of stippling and hatching. The work of both sisters demonstrates attention to details of hairstyle, jewelry, and dress.

In general, Eliza’s documented miniatures show a slightly paler palette than those by her sister, especially in flesh tones, and gentler modeling of the facial features. The rectangular format of this miniature with rounded corners is one Eliza used periodically.

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Albert Gallatin Hoit (1809–1856), attributed to John Hodgdon about 1835 watercolor on ivory, leather case 23⁄4 x 21⁄2 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.10

In this miniature, John Hodgdon (1800–1883), born in Weare, New Hampshire, projects the gravity of the successful businessman he became. At nineteen, he inherited a large tract of land in Maine, which now bears his name. A graduate of Bowdoin College, he became a lawyer in Bangor, and was actively involved in timber, banking, and state politics. In 1853 he moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where he was elected mayor in 1859, and later died.

The identification of the sitter, provided by his descendants, is more certain than that of the artist. A. G. Hoit was a prolific portrait painter of businessmen, academics, and politicians. The composition of this miniature – a figure seated in a red chair against a dark background – is similar to the larger, almost formulaic portraits that Hoit produced. However, the few miniatures that are more definitively attributed to him are painted in a different technique, with a paler background created by hatched brushstrokes. In favor of a Hoit attribution is the fact that, until he made Boston his home in 1839, he worked in Portland, Bangor, and Belfast, Maine, when Hodgdon lived in the region.

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American artist Portrait of a Woman about 1835–38 watercolor on ivory, gilded metal locket 21⁄4 x 13⁄4 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.14

This miniature is charming for its detailed portrayal of a serious young woman. The facial features are carefully drawn, especially the eyes, brows and ears. The sitter is dressed fashionably in black with a wide collar typical of the mid 1830s. She wears a brooch, pendant earrings, and a ring. Her auburn hair is pulled up and braided.

The awkwardly rendered hands are tiny in comparison to the figure and suggest that the artist is self-taught — perhaps one of the many itinerant miniaturists of the 1830s.

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William Lewis (1788–after 1838) Mary Ann Waterman 1837 watercolor on ivory, leather case 21⁄2 x 2 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.13

The inscription tucked inside the case of this miniature tells us the little we know of the sitter, née Mary Ann Phares: “Mary Ann Waterman, Aged 29 years, Painted by Wm. Lewis, Boston, Massachusetts, May 3, 1837, married Jan 8th 1837.” Her marriage to Edward C. Waterman is confirmed in the Boston Register of Marriages, 1800–1849.

The matronly Mrs. Waterman wears a lace collar, long gold chain, pendant earrings, and a tortoiseshell comb that surmounts her tightly curled hairstyle. Characteristic of his naive style, Lewis depicted Mrs. Waterman with a rather long nose and pronounced jaw, which a number of his sitters exhibit.

William Lewis began his career in his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts before moving to Boston in 1821. He occasionally exhibited still lifes, portraits in oil, and miniatures at the Boston Athenaeum. A contemporary of the more accomplished miniaturist Sarah Goodrich, Lewis nevertheless developed a strong Boston clientele.

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Mary Elizabeth Lalanne (1815–1836) Mrs. Samuel Whitwell about 1835 watercolor on ivory, modern frame 41⁄8 x 31⁄8 in. signed lower left: Lalanne Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.12

The sitter is identified by an old inscription attached to an earlier frame of the miniature.

No further information about her is known. Research found several men named Samuel Whitwell, all active in business in Boston in the 1830s. The broad-brimmed hat and leg-of-mutton–sleeve dress of Mrs. Whitwell indicate that she was affluent and fashion-conscious. The portrait demonstrates excellent command of form and differentiation of textures and details for so young an artist.

Born in Quebec, Mary E. Lalanne exhibited several miniatures at the Boston Athenaeum in 1833, when she was only eighteen. Two years later, she married Dr. Horace Kimball on July 4 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Kimball was a Harvard-educated doctor, who became a noted dentist. The artist died in Boston on April 8, 1836 at age twenty-one, cutting short what would have certainly been a successful career.

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Alvan Clark (1804–1887) Mary Clarke Woods about 1840 watercolor on ivory, modern frame 31⠄8 x 23⠄8 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.1

Born into a farming family in Ashfield in rural western Massachusetts, Alvan Clark tried out a variety of careers, from wagon maker and itinerant miniaturist to engraver in textile printing shops in Lowell, Fall River, Providence, and New York. From about 1835 to 1860, he focused on portrait and miniature painting in Boston. He experimented in making telescopes with his son in the 1850s, and then closed his Boston studio to open a business that made some of the finest telescopes in the United States.

A modern inscription identifies the sitter as Mary Clarke Woods, daughter of Mrs. Harriett Troup (Clarke) Kennedy.

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Samuel Lancaster Gerry (1813–1891) Portrait of a Man 1841 watercolor on ivory, leather case 23⁄4 x 21⁄8 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday 2016.24.4

This earnest young man is portrayed in a palette limited to various shades of brown and black.

His dark brown hair and black jacket and tie set off the white shirt and pale skin against the brown-gray hatching of the plain background.

The identification of Samuel Gerry as the artist is based upon the inscription found inside the case: “March 1841 / by S L Gerry / Boston.” Gerry began his career in Boston in the 1830s as a portrait and miniature painter although he later developed a considerable reputation painting landscapes mostly in New England, especially the White Mountains. In 1841 and 1842 he exhibited miniatures at the Boston Athenaeum, including one entitled Portrait of a Gentleman in 1842.

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Clarissa Peters Russell, Mrs. Moses B. Russell (1809–1854) Self-Portrait about 1853 watercolor on ivory, leather case 23⠄8 x 2 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.17

This miniature is traditionally identified as a self-portrait of Clarissa Peters Russell, who was one of Boston’s foremost miniaturists in the 1840s and early 1850s. It is striking for the patterns of exquisitely rendered details that distinguishes her style, evident in repetition of the ruffles on the bonnet, the embroidery and fringe on the shawl, and even the delicately drawn hair of her eyebrows.

Born into a large family from North Andover, Massachusetts, Clarissa Peters married in 1839 Moses B. Russell, also a miniature painter who probably instructed her. Their work is often confused due to the similarity of their styles and palettes, and because she often painted under his name. They shared a studio in Boston from 1840 to 1851, when her husband left her and their son to travel abroad for a decade. She died while he was away.

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Clarissa Peters Russell Portrait of a Woman about 1847–50 watercolor on ivory, leather case 23⁄4 x 21⁄4 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.24

The artist conveyed an unadorned, straightforward depiction of the subject by placing her against a pale blue sky and using a limited palette of black, russet, and blue. The simplicity of the composition allows for more visual prominence to such details as braided hair, pleated bodice, and simple lace neckline of the dress.

The leather case bears the label of a miniature case maker, Hiram Studley, whose shop at the corner of Court and Howard Streets in Boston is documented in Boston directories from 1848 to 1850.

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Clarissa Peters Russell Clara Tamar Robbins 1850 watercolor on ivory, rose gold case also framing a daguerreotype of John Manning Robbins Jr. 17⁄8 x 11⁄2 in. engraved: John Manning Robbins Jr / November 13, 1850 / Clara Tamar Robbins Gift of Catherine P. Robbins in loving memory of her husband, John M. Robbins III, 1996.17

This portrait of young Clara Tamar Robbins (b.1850) was painted after her twin sister died.

The unusually elaborate frame holds on the back a tiny daguerreotype of Clara’s five-year-old brother, John Manning Robbins Jr., reflecting the growing popularity of photography. Clara and John’s father was a successful businessman in various towns surrounding Boston. Clara never married and lived with her father until his death in 1897. This miniature remained in the Robbins family until it was given to the Currier Museum by the wife of Clara Tamar Robbins’ grand nephew.

Clarissa Peters Russell frequently painted children. This likeness typifies Russell’s appealing, stylized approach: the child is portrayed in a frontal, waist-length format, gazing out at the viewer with exaggerated, dark, round eyes. The arms, small in proportion to the figure, have no sense of real anatomy. Yet Russell excelled in delineating the pleats and buttons of the dress, the coral necklace, and the flowers Clara holds.

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Moses B. Russell (1809–1884) Portrait of a Man about 1845–51 watercolor on ivory, gilded locket 111⁄16 x 13⁄8 in. inscribed on paper inside: M. B. Russell Gift of Charles A. Gilday 2016.24.16

The identification of the artist is based on the signature of M. B. Russell found on a piece of paper inside the case. The iridescent background of orange, blue, and purple brushstrokes confirms the artist’s work. The locket’s shape, though somewhat unusual, is one that Russell occasionally used. It has an elaborate engine-turned pattern on the reverse that surrounds a reserve framing a plait of light brown hair.

Moses B. Russell was born in North Woodstock, New Hampshire. His artistic training, if any, is unknown. He spent most of his career in Boston, where he had a brisk business throughout the 1840s. He lived there with his wife, the miniature painter Clarissa Peters Russell, and son, from 1839 to 1851, when he left his family to travel abroad. He returned to Boston in 1861, five years after his wife’s death, to find that miniature painting had waned in favor of daguerreotypes.

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Annie Hurlburt Jackson (1877–1959) Amy L. Boyden 1915 watercolor on ivory, gilded locket 31⁄2 x 21⁄2 in. signed center right: A H Jackson; engraved on reverse: Amy L. Boyden / June 1915 Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.11

This miniature was probably commissioned to commemorate the eightieth birthday of Amy Lydia Boyden, née Hoag (1835–1924). A native of Tamworth, New Hampshire, she married real estate investor and businessman William C. Boyden (1835–1899) in 1859. They raised seven children in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Born in Minneapolis, Annie Hurlburt Jackson lived from 1896 until her death in the Boston suburb of Brookline. She studied with several prominent New England painters including Hermann Dudley Murphy, Charles Woodbury, and Charles W. Hawthorne. Never married, she lived with her brother Robert Fuller Jackson, an architect and painter. She regularly exhibited with the American Society of Miniature Painters and at the Boston Art Club, among other organizations.

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Lucia Fairchild Fuller (1872–1924) Sturgis 1915 watercolor on ivory, original frame 53⁄4 x 31⁄4 in.

Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.3

Owing to the garden setting, the full-length pose, and the elaborate frame, this miniature seems more akin to a small easel painting than to the intimate portraits of the pre-Civil War era.

Designed to be hung on the wall, it was exhibited in the 1915 annual exhibition of the American Society of Miniature Painters held at the National Academy of Design in New York. The sitter’s identity beyond his first name is not known.

Born into a wealthy, well-connected Boston family, Lucia Fairchild Fuller studied with several notable artists in Boston and New York, including William Merritt Chase and Kenyon Cox. In 1899 she was a founding member of the American Society of Miniature Painters, where she regularly exhibited, becoming its president in 1913. She was also an influential teacher. She and her husband, Henry Brown Fuller, spent summers in Cornish, New Hampshire and became part of the art colony there, which included Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Maxfield Parrish. In 1918 she gave up her career due to illness.

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Evelyn S. Harmon (1871–1958) Portrait of a Woman 1935 watercolor on ivory, original frame 37⁄8 x 31⁄8 in. signed: E. S. Harmon ‘35 Gift of Charles A. Gilday, 2016.24.9

The fluid brushwork of the mottled rose background and the paisley shawl reflects the training of Evelyn Harmon, née Luella Evelyn Shaylor. Though her interest in art may have stemmed from her father’s successful career as a penmanship teacher and an amateur artist, she studied painting at the Museum School in Boston in 1911 to 1912 and with Charles Woodbury at his summer school in Ogunquit. The highly accomplished Boston miniature painter Laura Coombs Hills, who was also known for a painterly technique, occasionally critiqued Harmon’s work.

A native of Portland, Maine, Luella Shaylor married Harry True Harmon in 1892; they lived in Portland, Boston, and Gloucester. She exhibited occasionally with the American Society of Miniature Painters in New York and with other regional miniature societies. She exhibited in the First Annual Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in New York in 1917. Later in her career, the artist used her middle name Evelyn rather than Luella, as is the case with the signature on this work.

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John A. Greenough (1825–1893) Cameo pin: Edward C. Stevens 1850 cameo shell, gold mount 21⁄4 x 2 in. inscribed on mount: L. D. Stevens Gift of Margaret Dow Mudge, 1979.38

Cameo portraits carved from shell were an alternative to miniatures for affluent Victorian families. A skilled carver, John A. Greenough captured as much detail of his sitters’ distinctive features and costume as would a miniature painter. The sitters, Edward C. Stevens (1810–1882) and Lydia Dow Stevens (1804–1882), were originally from Exeter, New Hampshire. By 1843 Stevens had established a successful carpet business on Washington Street in Boston.

Lydia Dow Stevens wearing the cameo portrait of her husband pinned at her neck.

The cameo appears reversed because of the direct positive process used to make daguerreotypes. Daguerreotype, 1850s. Gift of Margaret Dow Mudge, 1979.36

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John A. Greenough Cameo bracelet: Lydia Dow Stevens 1850 cameo shell, gold bracelet 13⁄4 x 11⁄2 in. signed on reverse of cameo: No. 44 / From life / J.A. Greenough / Boston / 1850 inscribed on clasp: A. J. O. Stevens, from her Mother, Oct. 13th, 1851 Gift of Margaret Dow Mudge, 1979.39 Information about the mercurial John Greenough is sparse, though other examples of his cameo portraits are in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Historic New England; and Maine Historical Society. He is listed as a cameo cutter in the 1849–50 Boston Business Directory on Washington Street, not far from Edward Stevens’ place of business. Greenough lived in Manchester, New Hampshire in 1852 to 1853 and is listed in the city directories in 1856 and 1858.

He led a very interesting life, according to an article in the Manchester Daily Mirror of April 21, 1853: John Greenough was arrested in [Manchester] … on the charge of robbing the house of Charles L. Drown, Hanover street, Boston, on the night of Dec. 21st, 1850 – stealing therefrom watches and jewelry of the value of one thousand dollars. He consented to go with the officer. He has been residing in this city a year or two, and has been engaged in cutting likenesses on cameo, engraving etc. He is a very ingenious workman, and some of his work is seldom equaled... He is said to be an illegitimate son of [Horatio] Greenough, the sculptor.

Having suffered from bouts of mental illness, Greenough died in Concord, New Hampshire.

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The business of painting portrait miniatures Portrait miniatures were among the most treasured keepsakes of a loved one. Their inherent emotional value was enhanced by the exotic and precious materials that comprised the tiny likenesses: ivory, gold, hair taken from the beloved, and sometimes jewels. Miniature painters needed to acquire these materials and assemble them into a finished object meeting the expectations of a patron.

The most exotic and fragile material in a miniature was the ivory on which the portrait was painted. American miniaturists bought sheets or leaves of ivory, imported from England and originating in India or Africa, at stationers who also sold artists’ supplies. The artist cut the fragile sheets to size and then degreased and lightly sanded the ivory, so it would accept watercolor.

Detail of Thomas Groom & Co. advertisement, Boston Almanac, 1842.

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To prepare for painting, the artist attached the ivory to a backing paper, which allowed for safer and easier handling. Brushstrokes on the backing paper of each miniature below show how the artists wiped their brushes to remove excess water for better control of the pigment (right) or to test the palette of colors (left).

The delicate ivory portraits needed housing, whether in gilded metal lockets or hinged leather cases. A few miniaturists, like John Ramage who was also a goldsmith, could make their own lockets. More often they bought lockets from a silversmith or jeweler. A few miniature case makers are listed in Boston city directories beginning in the 1820s. The label of Hiram Studley’s Miniature Case Manufactory was found in one of Clarissa Peters Russell’s leather cases (see page 29). Firms like Studley’s probably made pocketbooks also and, later, cases for daguerreotypes.

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Several lockets in this exhibition house a plait of hair, a keepsake that was presumably cut from the sitter. While some miniaturists were proficient in making hair ornaments, the listing in the 1842 Boston Almanac shows a trade in hair work that served the needs of miniature painters and the growing demand for jewelry made of braided hair (see bottom left).

Finally, the miniature was ready to be assembled. The leftmost photograph below shows the back of Parmenas Howell’s locket (see page 11) with the reserve for the hair ornament. With the case opened and the locket’s contents laid out, we see the plait of hair and the cut-gold initials of the sitter, as well as cards that the artist cut to be used as packing, or filling, to keep everything in place.

Like painters then and today, the miniaturist depended upon active patronage to make a living.

Advertising was important in the local city directory, newspaper, or broadside. The 1842 Boston Almanac provides a glimpse into the community of miniature painters in its heyday. The list includes Alvan Clark, Samuel L. Gerry, Sarah Goodrich, and Moses B. Russell, all represented in the Gilday gift.

Details from the Boston Almanac, 1842.

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ISBN 9780929710433

9 780929 710433

90000 >