$11,750
Attributed to James Sanford Ellsworth (American, 1802/03- 1874) A Pair of Miniature Portraits of Elizabeth Brainard Brown and Her Son Gilbert Lawrence Brown. Unsigned. Watercolor on paper, c. 1840-45, depicting the subjects in profile seated on fanciful red upholstered chairs with yellow painted frames, the boy holds a book, their heads and chairs surrounded by shaded gray cloud-like formations, 3 1/4 x 2 1/2 in., in mahogany veneer frames. Condition: Minor toning. Provenance: According to a note accompanying the miniatures: "The paintings were acquired from H. Brainard Brown of Rochester, New York. He reported that the paintings were of Gilbert Lawrence Brown and his mother, Elizabeth Brainard Brown, of Massachusetts. The Brown family emigrated from Devonshire, England, to Massachusetts before the War of 1812. The family settled in the neighborhood of Great Barrington, Stockbridge, and Chatham in the Berkshires. Mr. Brown recalled spending summers at the home of Judge Dudly Brown of Stockbridge. The house was insulated with sea weed in the walls and ceilings, 'all of which the old boy had hauled from the coast when the house was built in the early 1800s'".
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2006-11-04
