CEPHAS GIOVANNI THOMPSON (AMERICAN 1809-1888) Virgin Mary with Guardian Angels and Saint Innocents

oil on canvas 109. 8 x 80.2 cm (43 1/4 x 31 5/8 in.) signed with initials lower left, LOT NOTES Cephas Giovanni Thompson was the son of the well known early 19th Century self-taught portrait painter Cephas Thompson, who was born, lived and worked in Middleboro, Massachusetts. Like his father, Cephas was born in Middleboro. Initially working in Plymouth, Massachusetts, he would travel the East Coast, working in Boston, Bristol, and Philadelphia before settling in New York City. Thompson established a studio in the University Building at Washington Square in New York, and became a fashionable artist known not only for his portraituree but also for his allegorical and romantic scenes, often featuring beautiful young women. Two canvases that he painted during this time, Spring and Autumn were exhibited at the Apollo Association in 1839. Shown for reference here, Spring is currently in the Permanent Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of New York.