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Wonderful American watercolor folk portrait attributed to sought-after Henry Walton.  There is some confusion about Henry Walton's birth and death.  Sources say he was born either in New York City or England in either 1804 or 1820.  The 1804 date seems the most likely since the majority of his watercolor portraits date from the 1820s through the 1830s.  He died either in 1865, in Michigan, or in 1873, in California.  All sources seem to agree that he made a living with his watercolor portraits.  By 1829, Walton was he drew on stone (making lithographs) for Pendletons of Boston, and is well-recognized for his lithographic cityscape work.  He is known to have painted portraits in New York towns such as Elmira, Big Flats, Addison, and Painted Post.  In 1851, Walton left the East for the gold rush of California.  In 1857, Walton and his wife, Jane Orr Walton, moved to Michigan where they lived until the end of their lives.  I found an undated marriage record on Ancestry.com for Jane Orr marrying Henry Walton....although the marriage record was undated, it gave Jane Orr's birthyear as 1804, making it more likely that Walton's birthyear was 1804.  I also found a marriage record on FamilySearch.org saying that Henry Walton and Jane Orr were married in Cass, Michigan June 20, 1839.

This delightful watercolor full length folk portrait depicts a young boy seated in a straight legged wooden armchair with what appears to be a splint seat.  He is tying small tails to his kite string while his lovely kite lays on the ground.  The boy wears a short blue coat, tucked and buttoned into his ochre-colored trousers.  The coat is single breasted but has two additional rows of decorative buttons that extend up and next to his turned down collar.  Above the shirt collar, we see the frilled white collar of his shirt.  The ground below the young boy is depicted as a oblong shaped brown disc (a device favored by Walton) and in the distance we see farmland, sectioned off by shrubbery.  The back of the paper has a very light preliminary pencil sketch of the boy and what may be writing (although I can not make it out even with computer enhancement.  Walton applied the watercolor for his faces thinly and with light colors.  As is usual for these folk portraits, the skin tones have faded a bit.  The paper is in very good condition but for two unobtrusive marks which you can see in the close up photo at about 8 o'clock and 10 o'clock.  Overall, the portrait is in very fine condition. The portrait resides in a period bird's eye maple frame with a flat profile (Sully type) that measures 7 1/4" x 9 1/4".  The portrait purchase includes a copy of Henry Walton 19th Century American Artist, by Leigh Rehner.  A rare opportunity to own a great piece of American folk art by a well-listed artist.

(#4591)     $2950

Please see the Folk Portrait Artists page for more information about Henry Walton.

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