Antique Folk Art Watercolor Full Length Portrait of Young Couple. Circa 1820, probably New England

Peggy McClard Antiques

Americana & Folk Art

	I love this folky watercolor full length portrait of a young couple. It has the ear-markings of the work of a young woman who entertained herself with painting learned from a school girl's academy or possibly on her own. The style has similarities to the work of Emily Eastman, including treatment of the eyes and the woman's curls and ringlets. However, I don't think there are enough similarities to attribute the work to her. This anonymous artist invokes the spirit of American folk art with her painting. The figures are carefully cut out and pasted to the wove paper background as if they were silhouettes. One art form that young girls were often taught at school was painting figures of flower, insects, animals and people then cutting them out for a larger composition. This young couple represents that art form. The wove paper of the figures and the background is the same age and quality and has aged gracefully together. The young woman wears an off-the-shoulder white dress with short puffed sleeves, lace edging to the neckline and two lace edged flounces to her skirt. She wears above the elbow yellow fingerless gloves. The yellow is echoed by the brim of her bonnet which has a large, upturned blue brim with ribbons. The blue is carried through the painting with her blue sash and blue shawl. Her hair is curled around her face and finished with long ringlets that fall well beyond her shoulders. The gentleman holds his arm crooked to accept her hand. Her wears white pants and a brown tail coat with a double row of decorative buttons and a turned down collar with no lapels. You can see his collar high at his jaw-line. His hair is curled and combed towards his face. He holds an upturned top hat. I love the tiny shoes and feet of the couple. This fabulous circa 1820 watercolor is framed in a wonderful paint decorated frame (black over red) with a dry alligatored untouched surface that measures 9 1/4" x 11 1/4". The wove paper is folded over the edges of the wood backboard. The edges (on the backside) are glued to the board. For conservation I have adapted a method I learned from the textile curators at Colonial Williamsburg. I cut along the top edge of the paper which allowed me to slip a thin sheet of 100% acid free acetate between the wood and the paper. This prevents acid damage from all but the back edges that are glued down. I find this a much more acceptable method than removing the paper from the backboard, allowing the original elements to remain together while stopping acid damage. There is a little bit of waviness in areas of the paper (particularly the top and bottom which is caused by the folding over and gluing of the paper to the back), a tiny bit of creasing (which you can see in the woman's hair at 9 o'clock), overall toning with a lighter area around her tiny feet. Overall, this is very good condition considering these paintings were painted onto very thin, poor quality paper and that it has been atop a wood board for close to 200 years. Likely from New England. This is a fantastic piece of 19th century American folk art! (#4608) $2250

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