$38,188
American School, 19th Century Portrait of Achsah E. M. Connelly Age Nine. c. 1864. Unsigned. Oil on canvas, depicting the girl wearing a gold locket and earrings, a yellow flower sprigged dress, holding a pink rose in one hand, one arm resting on a table with two books, and standing on a patterned carpet, 58 1/2 x 42 in., in a gilt gesso frame. Condition: Very good, a few minor paint losses l.l. Provenance: By family descent of friends of the sitter to the consignor. According to a note written by the father of a previous owner, he remembers first seeing the painting in 1933, when he was about six years old in Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania, while he was with his mother visiting the home of the elderly woman who was the subject of this painting, and whom they called Axy. He states in 1872, when Axy was eighteen, she married Thomas Benton Campbell. They lived in Fayette City, Pennsylvania, where Thomas worked at the Fayette City Pottery and together they had seven children. After Axy's death, the painting went to her daughter Forrest who lived to be over 100 years old. Before she died, she gave the painting to a friend of the family, around 1983. It was later displayed in the Castle Shannon Library for several years until it was expanded in the 1990s. Items included in this lot are the note, the framed marriage certificate of Thomas and Achsah Campbell, two newspaper articles celebrating the 100th birthday of Achsah's daughter, Forrest, (one mentions the painting hanging in th Read more…
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2004-02-22
