Continuing a major series on American Folk Art featuring 21 postings. Folk Art encompasses art produced by artists and ordinary folk with little or no training in the arts, and is traditionally utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic. The period I’m covering is the C18th and C19th.
For an overview of the series with lots of examples see part 1. See part 2 for needlework samplers.
This is part 3 of a 21-part post on American Folk Art:
For an overview of the series with lots of examples see part 1. See part 2 for needlework samplers.
This is part 3 of a 21-part post on American Folk Art:
Pieter Vanderlyn (c1687 - 1778)
The designation "Gansevoort Limner" was given to the unknown painter of a stylistically coherent group of portraits depicting members of the Gansevoort family. The majority of his sitters were children, and several of his portraits are inscribed in either Dutch or Latin.
Until further evidence comes to light, it cannot be said with complete certainty that The Gansevoort Limner is Pieter Vanderlyn. If they are, The Gansevoort Limner was born in Holland about 1687, coming to New York from Curaçao around 1718. He travelled frequently between Albany and Kingston until 1777, then moved to Shawangunk, New York. He died there in 1778.
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| 1720-30 (formerly attributed to) Portrait of a Lady (Possibly Hannah Stillman) oil on canvas 74.9 x 62.2 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City |
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| 1725c Portrait of Elizabeth Van Dyck Vosburg oil on canvas 78.7 x 66 cm |
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| 1730 (attributed to) Girl of the Van Rensselaer Family oil on canvas 113.7 x 88.9 cm |
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| 1730 (possible attribution) Susanna Traux oil on bed ticking 95.9 x 83.8 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1730-40 (attributed to) Pau Gansevoort or Pau de Wandelaer oil on canvas 113.7 x 89.5 cm Albany Institute of History and Art, NY |
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| 1730c Catarina De Wandelaer Gansevoort oil on canvas 120.7 x 90.2 cm |
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| 1732 (attributed to) Young Lady with a Rose oil on canvas 82.6 x 68.6 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City |
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| 1735c (possible attribution) Miss Van Alen oil on canvas 79.2 x 66.4 National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1737 (possible attribution) Young Lady with a Fan oil on canvas 96.6 x 80.7 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1739c (attributed to) Deborah Glen oil on canvas 146.1 x 89.9 cm |
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| 1741 Mrs. Myndert Myndertse Jannetje Persen & Sara Terra oil on canvas 99.7 x 82.2 cm © 2004–2005 Terra Foundation for American Art |
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| 1743c (attributed to) Anna Brodhead Oliver oil on canvas 30.6 x 25.2 cm |
Joseph Badger (c1707 – 1765)
Born on Charlestown, Massachusetts, he began his career as a house-painter and glazier, and throughout his life continued this work, besides painting signs, hatchments and other heraldic devices, in order to eke out a livelihood when orders for portraits slackened. After marrying in 1731 he moved to Boston around 1733. He died in 1765. Works by Badger are in the collections of the Worcester Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and Historic New England's Phillips House, Salem, Mass.
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| 1746-47 James Bowdoin oil on canvas 129.9 x 101.9 cm © Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1746c Elizabeth Storer (Mrs. Isaac Smith) oil on canvas 91.4 x 73.7 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1750 Portrait of Cornelius Waldo oil on canvas Worcester Art Museum, MA |
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| 1750-54 James Pitts oil on canvas 90.2 x 70.5 cm © Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1750c (attributed to) Portrait of a Child oil on canvas |
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| 1750c Mrs. William Foye (Elizabeth Campbell) oil on canvas 92.1 x 74 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1750c William Foye, Jr. oil on canvas 92.1 x 73.7 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1755 Dr. William Foster oil on canvas 90.8 x 71.4 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1755 Isaac Foster Jr. oil on canvas 81.3 x 66.2 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1759 John Haskins oil on canvas 91.4 x 68.9 cm Brooklyn Museum, New York |
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| 1759 Mrs John Haskins oil on canvas 91 x 72 cm Brooklyn Museum, New York |
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| 1760 James Badger oil on canvas 108 x 84.1 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City |
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| n.d. Mrs. John Edwards (Abigail Fowle) oil on canvas 118.1 x 90.5 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
Abraham Delanoy Jr. (1742-1795)
Abraham Delanoy, Jr. was born in 1742, and was most likely the son of another Abraham De Lanoy, a merchant,and grandson of the area Schoolmaster. The family were relatives of the Beekman family, from whom some of his known commissions came.Abraham's great-uncle, Peter Delanoy, was the first elected mayor of New York City at the time when the English were taking the colony over from the Dutch. Delanoy was also a descendant of Abraham De Lanoy, who married Cornelia Toll Duyckinck after the early death of her husband. Her son was the limner Evert Duyckinck III, and it has been suggested that it was his relationship to this artistic family that led to the young man's choice of profession.The De Lanoys were among the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam and were tradespeople and merchants.
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| 1766 Benjamin West oil on canvas |
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| 1785c (attributed to) Girl with a Basket of Fruit oil on canvas |
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| Portrait of John Sherman Jr., New Haven, CT oil on canvas |
Benjamin Blyth (1746 – 1811)
Benjamin Blyth was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1746 and was one of the best known and most successful portraitists on the North Shore from the mid-1760s through the early 1780s. While Blyth sometimes worked in oil, his preferred medium was pastel. He found a ready clientele amongst wealthy ship owners and merchants.
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| 1780c (style of) Portrait of a Gentleman Wearing a Blue Coat with Ledger Books, Massachusetts pastel on paper 57.1 x 43.2 cm |
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| 1766c John Adams pastel on paper 68 x 55.2 cm Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston |
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| 1780c Portrait of Captain John Somes pastel on paper mounted on canvas Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA |
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| 1780c Portrait of Elizabeth Rogers Low pastel on paper mounted on canvas Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA |
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| 1786 (attributed to) Dr. Joseph Lemmon pastel on paper mounted on linen 51.1 x 40.7 cm Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
Winthrop Chandler (1747 – 1790)
Born in Woodstock, Connecticut, the son of a farmer. After his father’s death in 1754, Chandler pursued a career as a portrait and ornamental painter. He does not appear to have participated in the Revolutionary War. Members of his family did as is demonstrated by the portrait of his brother Samuel in captain's uniform.
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| 1780c Captain Samuel Chandler oil on canvas 139 x 121.7 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
Over time he pursued a variety of visual arts, including gilding, carving and illustrating, as well as portraiture, landscape and house painting. This variety of skills points to a possible training as an artisan-painter. Despite a modest family inheritance, Chandler soon began to experience financial difficulties that would continue throughout his life.
In 1785 Chandler moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he remained for five years. He likely made this move to look for new patrons as he was constantly experiencing financial difficulties. Here he also worked as a house painter.During this period his son Charles as well as his wife died, and his remaining children were sent to live with relatives, possibly his sister, since he painted Mrs. Crafts, née Mahitible Chandler in 1781. His sister had moved with her husband Ebenezer Crafts to Craftsbury, Vermont.
Chandler returned to Chandler Hill where he died on 29 July 1790. Chandler was so destitute that his estate was left to the selectmen of Thompson to pay for his medical and funeral expenses.
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| 1768-90c (attributed to) Overmantle painting fragment oil on panel 78.7 x 106.7 cm Private Collection |
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| 1770-75c Levi Willard oil on canvas 67.9 x 59.7 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1770-75c Homestead of General Timothy Ruggles, Hardwick, MA oil on canvas 79.2 x 159.4 cm Worcester Art Museum, MA |
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| 1770-75c Mrs. Levi Willard (Catherine Chandler) oil on canvas 67.9 x 59.7 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1772 Judge Ebenezer Devotion oil on canvas 177.8 x 113 cm Lyman Allen Art Museum, New London, CT |
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| 1773 Portrait of Reverend Ebenezer Gay Sr. oil on canvas 94 x 71.1 cm |
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| 1775-85c New England Man pastel on paper over canvas 55.9 x 40.6 cm Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY |
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| 1776-77 The Battle of Bunker Hill oil on panel 88.6 x 136.2 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1780c Mrs. Samuel Chandler (wife of Captain Samuel Chandler) oil on canvas 139.1 x 121.7 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1780c Overmantle painting |
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| 1785c Mrs. Quackenbush oil on canvas 61 x 45,7 cm de Young-Legion of Honour Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA |
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| 1785c The Reverend Mr. Quackenbush oil on canvas 61 x 45.7 cm de Young/Legion of HOnour Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA |
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| 1786c John Paine oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| n.d. (attributed to) James Greene of Providence, Rhode Island oil on canvas 78.5 x 63.8 cm Princeton University Art Museum, NJ |