Pennsylvania - Paintings

Leo Posillico Serigraph Pencil Sign Numbered "Artists Have all the Fun" 216/295. Item featured is pencil signed to lower right, pencil numbered 216/295, glass front, lacquered frame,...

“EQUESTRIAN WASHINGTON,” OIL ON CANVAS PAINTING OF GEORGE WASHINGTON ON BLUESKIN, AFTER REMBRANDT PEALE, circa 1830-1850 (POSSIBLY PRIOR): Born in Bucks County Pennsylvania during the American Revolution, Rembrandt Peale (Feb. 22, 1778 – Oct. 3, 1860) was the son of Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), the leading painter in the American colonies. A member of the Sons of Liberty, Charles left home shortly after Rembrandt's birth to fight with Washington's army. He taught most of his 17 children to paint, of which Rembrandt is the most celebrated, though two others, as well as an adopted nephew, achieved significant notoriety. Charles was one of the two most famous artists to paint Washington from life, the other being Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828). The last to do so was Rembrandt Peale, at the mere age of 17, whom Washington sat for in 1795, near the end of his presidency. This became the most celebrated feather in the cap of the young artist, who proudly wore it for the remainder of his life when marketing his trade. The sketch that he created that day laid the groundwork for not only his repute for having done so, but also a crazed obsession to create what he desperately hoped would someday become the “national portrait and the “standard likeness” of Washington. The most familiar of Rembrandt’s paintings of the president & general is regarded as the “porthole portrait,” a three-quarter, head and shoulders image, painted in 1824, that illustrated him in a blue and buff yellow military coat, with prominent epaulettes, presenting the subject as if viewed through an oval window, painted as part of the canvas. Also of great significance was an 1823 work that pictured him on horseback, entitled Before the Battle of Yorktown, accompanied by Henry Knox, Alexander Hamilton, Lafayette, and Rochambeau.* Next to his father and Stuart, Rembrandt Peale’s renditions of Washington are the most recognizable, perhaps in a near tie with those of the artist John Trumbull (1756-1843), who for a short time, in 1776, served as the general’s aide-de-camp. All four men trained in Great Britain under Benjamin West, arguably the most celebrated painter world-wide. West encouraged each to paint historical views of American figures and achievements, offering advice to the young Rembrandt Peale specifically, conveyed to him in a letter by his father, suggesting that he consider subjects that possessed “powers to dignify man.” This view of Washington, upon his horse, commonly referred to as “Equestrian Washington,” is widely thought to have been first painted by Rembrandt. Although this work has sometimes been equated with various paintings rendered in the 1820’s, that illustrated him on horseback with various staff, on or about the battlefield (i.e., the Yorktown picture), this work instead presents him as a lone figure on a horse before a tree-lined landscape, with a presumed army encamped or engaged in the distance, the sky tinged with the red light of fires or cannon. Leading historian E.P. Richardson, commonly referred to as the ‘Dean of American Art Historians,’ co-founder of the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian (1954), director of the Detroit Institute of Arts (1945-62), and of Winterthur (1963-66), and of the Board of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1968-70), was of the opinion that Rembrandt produced this work earlier following his 1808 return from Paris. There he would have viewed similar...

English Antique Lover's eye portrait miniature brooch. circa 1840-50 The charming oval-shaped portrait miniature is mounted in a gilt metal repoussé frame with a pin back with a gilt leaf design on each side. The portrait is of a woman's right eye and brow showing ringlets of hair hanging down over her ear. Dimensions: 1-inch wide x 5/8 inch high x 1/4 inch deep from pin Reference: EYE MINIATURES Eye miniatures or Lovers' eyes were Georgian miniatures, normally watercolour depicting the eye or eyes of a spouse, loved one or child. These were usually commissioned for sentimental reasons and were often worn as bracelets, brooches, pendants or rings with richly decorated frames, serving the same emotional need as lockets hiding portraits or locks of hair. This fad started in the late 1700s and miniaturists such as Richard Cosway...

Portrait Miniature of a young girl, American, 1840s The oval portrait miniature is painted with a folky painting of a young girl wearing an ocher dress with blue ribbons on the ...

Painting of George Washington in oil on canvas, an early example, rendered circa 1850, a very pleasing and well-executed copy of Gilbert ...

A fine diminutive Tramp Art picture frame. With a crazed red wash and gold highlights. Found in a Pennsylvania estate. Simply a great...

Folk Art Royal Navy Sailor's painting of International Flag Code The sailor's Folk Art painting depicts a series of flags of the International Flag code as well as a Royal Navy Br...

A fine antique Folk Art watercolor painting. Depicting a hummingbird sipping nectar from a flower. In typical theorem style, the wate...

Portrait miniature silhouette profile of Mrs. Graydon, Attributed to John Thomason. Late 18th Century. A portrait on paper of Mrs. Graydon. Provenance: Mrs. Graydon: Sotheby'...

Depicting a brilliant summer day along the Sèvre Niortaise river, the focal point of the scene is the distant barn with tall groves of trees lining the river on either side. A trio of figures on the grassy bank appear to be boys, presumably having just docked their dinghy for an afternoon of exploring. The brushwork is lovely with a chaotic stippled surface supplemented by more vigorous strokes of color. It is signed in the lower right in his typical script "maurice Lemaître...

A large and very fine pastoral landscape painting of five cows at the watering hole in an open field before a group of trees, the work feels very immediate with the two nearest cows and the calf looking up at the viewer and watching any onlooker warily. From our perspective we can very literally feel the moment experienced in situ by Marcke in working up the scene. Typical of his work, it is intricately detailed with a vivid use of a high-chroma overall palette with a vigorous and excited brushwork throughout; the composition of the scene and placement of the cows is carefully balanced for effect. The work is housed in an early carved giltwood frame of very good overall quality. Emile Van Marcke...

A collection of 3 naive paintings of animals on cards, Rajasthan India, 19th Century, framed together under glass in a contemporary giltwood frame.