$711
American School, 19th Century Portraits of Hopkins Stevens and Rachael Hills Stevens of Bristol, Connecticut. Unsigned. Oil on canvas, c. 1830, 28 x 24 in., in original matching mahogany veneer frames; the portraits are accompanied by several copies of photographs of the couple in their later years, genealogies, and photocopies of the local Connecticut newspaper obituaries regarding the couple. Condition: Relined, stable craquelure, retouch. Note: Hopkins Stevens was born in November of 1803 in Naugatuck, Connecticut, the fifth of nine children. He was a carpenter by trade. On April 11, 1826 he married Rachael Hills (b. January 17, 1808) of Farmington, Connecticut. They had at least two sons and a daughter. After ten years as a cabinetmaker in Camden, New York, the family moved to Bristol, Connecticut, where Hopkins was employed at the clock manufacturer Brewster and Ingraham. He left for four years to work in his hometown in a comb manufactory, before moving back to Bristol to work at E. Ingraham & Co., until he retired. He died in 1889 at the age of 86. Rachael was 85 years old when she died in 1893. Heavy retouch to both figures and backgrounds, the canvases are overall rather bumpy as the original canvas may be lifting from the relining.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2010-11-07
