The family heirlooms she brought with her included the chair described previously (fig. Investigation of these four families revealed a common descendant: Elizabeth Hiller Foster, who moved to California following her 1898 marriage to Frank Winchester. In his “Sketch of the life and a list of some of the works of John Singleton Copley” (Cambridge, Mass, 1873) Augustus Thorndike Perkins (1827–1891) described Nathaniel Hurd as an excellent artist and possibly a pupil of Copley’s half-brother Peter Pelham. 5: John Singleton Copley (1738–1815).Ĭourtesy, The Cleveland Museum of Art gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust (1915.534). ![]() This 1954 photo caption provided the first solid clue leading to the sitter’s identification.įig. In the photo caption, it was catalogued as having been acquired from a family who came to California in 1890, bringing with them heirlooms from the Foster, Hiller, Appleton, and Wentworth families of Boston. 3), another lot from the sale, had been published earlier in the January 1954 issue of The Magazine Antiques (page 47) as part of the collection of Mr. ![]() 18th century-portrait of a dark-haired young woman in a gray satin dress, pastel on paper.” Although the sale was billed as “property from a private West Coast collection,” according to Maine Antique Digest (March 2004), those in the trade knew it was the estate of Ted Samuel, a prominent San Francisco antiques dealer with a passion for Americana.Ī Queen Anne chair (Fig. The first known reference to this pastel was as a part of an auction lot in a Sotheby’s New York salesroom in 2003-“Lot #106: American School. Microscopic analysis reveals that the paper support has the distinctive red and blue silk fibers found on Copley’s signed pastels. On two pieces of conjoined coarse-laid paper glued to a seamed two-piece linen canvas and mounted on a yellow poplar strainer, the work measures twenty-three by eighteen inches, which is well within the size range of Copley’s known pastels. Technical analysis further supports a Copley attribution. 2), with its restrained palette, and rendering of light to sculptural effect suggests this pastel may have been produced at about the same time. A comparison with Copley’s signed 1769 pastel of Governor John Wentworth (Fig. The sitter in this portrait has the commanding gaze that distinguishes Copley’s portraits from those of his contemporaries. He supported the cause by offering subscriptions to the Massachusetts-Spy at his shop in Salem lending a voice to the cause. The later version as shown here identifies the sitter as President of the Continental Congress. The earliest version is in the collection of the Smithsonian identifies the sitter as the Honorable John Hancock Esq. Hiller’s mezzotint of Hancock survives in two versions. Courtesy, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass. Hiller fecit.” Mezzotint with watercolor, 9-7/8 x 7-7/8 inches. 4: Joseph Hiller (1746–1814) after Copley, The Hon. In the photo caption, this chair was identified as having been acquired from a family that came to California in 1890 bringing with them heirlooms from the Foster, Hiller, Appleton and Wentworth families of Boston.įig. Ted Samuel of San Francisco, California was published in January 1954 issue of The Magazine Antiques (page 47). Courtesy, Sotheby’s.Ī photograph from the collection of Mr. 3: Queen Anne carved walnut balloon seat side chair, Boston, 1750. Esther Lowell Abbott in memory of her Husband Gordon Abbott.įig. Pastel on laid paper, 23-1/2 x 17-3/4 inches.Ĭourtesy, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire gift of Mrs. Signed and dated, center right: JSC in monogram. For Copley, this was an easy medium in which to work and, as it placed little demand for repeated sittings, won favor with his clients.įig. Stylistically it has all the hallmarks of a pastel by John Singleton Copley (1738–1815), who created about fifty-five portraits in this medium between 1758 and when he departed for Europe in 1774 the vast majority of his sitters were Boston residents. ![]() The portrait shown in figure 1 originally presented just such a challenge. ![]() One of the issues that challenge collectors, dealers, and curators alike is how to authenticate a work of art that is not signed by the artist and for which there is no documentation.
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