"Mother and Child" Early 19th C. American Immigrant Oil Painting

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Description

This wonderful portrait of a young immigrant mother and her child was painted by a traveling artist. To make his … Read more This wonderful portrait of a young immigrant mother and her child was painted by a traveling artist. To make his work affordable, these itinerant artists provided pre-painted backgrounds on their canvases. This woman may or may not have lived in a fine house as the cabinet in the background proposes. The painter started with a prepared picture and simply added the figures in. The tam in the foreground suggests a Scottish heritage, and the child is supposedly pointing to a picture from their homeland.

The background had some losses and there was a tear in the upper center. The painting was professionally restored in the 1990s and placed on a Mylar support which allows the viewer to see the back of the original canvas. Fortunately, there was no damage to the central figures.

The stencil on the back of the canvas is from an artists supply house in New York and dates the painting to between 1844 and 1853. A curator at the Newark Museum of Art attributed the painting to Oliver Tarbell Eddy, but I believe it was painted by an iterant.

30" x 25". Frame dimensions 36" x 31"
Excellent restored condition. See less