Kennedy is perhaps the least well known of the portraitists
referred to as "Prior Hamblin" artists. To date no contact
between him and any other member of this stylistically linked group
of painters has been documented. The opportunity for exposure
to William Matthew Prior's work certainly existed, however, as is
readily apparent upon comparing recorded dates and locations of
activity for the two artists in both New England and Maryland.
Especially noteworthy is the fact that Prior's signed Baltimore
works bear an East Monument Street address only a few doors from
where Kennedy worked from 1856 to 1859.
Recent research by the Folk Art Center has revealed fourteen
signed examples of Kennedy's work, which provide the stylistic basis
for an additional thirty-nine attributions. Peculiarities of
his anatomical descriptions include exaggerated shading around the
nose, a U-shaped configuration connection the eyebrows and nose of
the subject, a dark line between the lips--often with T formations
at each corner of the mouth--and a particularly distinctive
curvature of the extended fingers of the subject's hands.
Occasionally Kennedy's portraits incorporate devises like a
landscape view through a window or door, or objects such as a
rattle, flute, stick and hoop, drumsticks, or a basket of flowers.
But the props he used most frequently were a rose in the
outstretched hands of female subjects, and a book in the hands of
male sitters. Although he sometimes depicted children full
length, either seated or standing, his portraits on canvas generally
show a half-length subject seated in a side chair against a
background that is either draped of shaded half light and half dark.
Kennedy painted likenesses on canvases of standard sizes and of the
small academy board variety frequently associated with artists of
the Prior-Hamblin group.1
The offered portrait is a stunning study of a distinguished older
woman attributed to William Kennedy. I do not know whether it is
one of the nineteen attributed portraits counted by the museum
attributions. I know that it came to me with an attribution from a
major auction house, and I agree whole-heartedly. The portrait is
enchanting and the color vivid. The sitter holds a daguerreotype
in her left hand that is adorned by a simple gold ring. She wears
gold hoop earrings and a large gold and stone brooch. Her dark
grey hair is simply styled and her eyes are striking. She sits in a
simple splat back red wooden side chair before a dark red drape before a
window that
opens to reveal a beautiful blue sky beyond a simple column. The
lace of her collar and sleeves is wonderfully detailed. This
stunning piece of American folk art has been beautifully conserved and
is lined. Repaired tears to the daguerreotype and to her hair are
virtually invisible. The beautiful period gilt frame measures 25"
x 30". The daguerreotype and the clothing date this portrait to
circa 1840.
(#4279) Sold
1Rumford,
Beatrix T. American Folk Portraits Paintings and Drawings from the
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center. New York Graphic Society,
1981. 136-137.
Please see the
Folk Portrait Artists page for more information about
William Kennedy
