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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)     $6500

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

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