$42,550
Joseph Whiting Stock (American, 1815-1855) Portrait of William James Coffin in a Blue Dress with a Small White Dog. Unsigned. Oil on canvas, 30 1/2 x 35 1/2 in., in a shaped elaborate gilt gesso frame. Condition: Minor abrasions at margins. N.B. This portrait descended in the family of the consignor, who is the great grand-nephew of the sitter. "Willie" Coffin (1846-1873), son of Shubael Cottle Coffin and Elizabeth James Coffin, was a member of a family prominent in the New Bedford whaling industry. Stock is recorded as having visited New Bedford in the late 1840s, when this portrait and two others were painted for the Coffin family. A letter from Juliette Tomlinsen, editor of THE JOURNALS OF JOSEPH WHITING STOCK, discussing the authenticity of the portrait accompanies the lot. Copies of the Coffin family Bible records and a handwritten codicil referring to Stock in a family will are also included. Exhibitions: This portrait was the featured work in the Old Dartmouth Historical Society Whaling Museum's Exhibition "Faces of New Bedford."
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2001-02-24
