Circa 1900 American Oil Portrait, Lady With a High Collar, Attributed to Edgar Cowan

Details

Description

Meet the lady in the high collar. She came to us as part of a pair — this portrait and … Read more Meet the lady in the high collar. She came to us as part of a pair — this portrait and a companion portrait of a young boy in a straw hat , pulled together from an estate sale at a grand old family home on Nantucket. Her identity remains a mystery, but Edgar Cowan clearly saw something worth painting.

This is an original oil-on-canvas portrait attributed to Edgar Cowan — graduate and instructor of the Art Institute of Chicago — dated circa 1900–1910. The subject, a boy with dark hair and a wide-brimmed straw hat tilted just so, is rendered with the kind of loose, confident brushwork that makes you look twice. The warm ochre tones of the hat play beautifully against the soft rust of his collar and the cool, smoky grey of the background. There's real life in this face.

She is housed in her original carved wood frame — the same walnut-toned floral relief border as its companion piece, which tells us these two were likely meant to hang together. A few of the carved rosettes have gone missing… but that just shows they have enjoyed life. Turn it over and you'll find the same handwritten inscription on the back: "Artist – Edgar Cowan – Graduate and Instructor of Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois – Circa 1900–1910." Provenance doesn't get much more direct than that.

Measures 16" x 14", approx.

Condition-wise, the canvas shows the beautiful craquelure you'd expect from a work of this age. There is some paint loss and surface wear — nothing alarming, and all part of the honest, lived-in character of a 120-year-old painting. Offered as-is; as We Love these been on the wall forever paintings

On its own, this is a striking, soulful portrait with great presence. Alongside its companion — a portrait from the same Nantucket estate, also attributed to Edgar Cowan and listed separately in our shop — it's a real statement. Either way, a genuine find. Collect one or both. See less