Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Professional Art Research”
For the portrait that led to Jeremiah and Daniel Wadsworth and to the previous blog, John Trumbull’s tender side, the investigation began with the painting itself. Oil on canvas, 22 x 18 inches, the hand of a skillful artist could be seen in the illuminated profile of an intriguing woman. The loose brushstrokes and representative painting style of the artist, the splendiferous hat and …
George Caleb Bingham’s father-in-law, Reverend Robert Stewart Thomas (1805-1859), was “a tall man…above six feet in height, but a stoop… diminished his stature … His limbs were not fleshy, in fact, they were inclined to be lean – and though he was moderately strong, there was not the appearance of strength. His hair was rather short, without gray, moderately thick …
George Caleb Bingham’s portrait of his second wife, Eliza Thomas Bingham (1828-1876), went up for auction this fall. I did not mention it publicly because I did not want to be seen as shilling for it. Perhaps I should have. I had no involvement in the sale. Because I believe Bingham portraits have irreplaceable artistic and historic value, I had …
John Quincy Adams, 1844, George Caleb Bingham’s historically most important portrait, is going up for auction on December 6, 2015, at Grogan & Company. Adams recorded his sittings with two artists who shared a studio in the Capitol in Washington, D.C.: George Caleb Bingham and John Cranch (1807-1891), Adams’ great-nephew, in his diary for May 23 and May 27, 1844. May 23 was rather uneventful, …
After ten years of searching, not long ago I located a “lost” portrait by George Caleb Bingham, Captain David McClanahan Hickman. John Francis McDermott first noted the existence of the 30 x 25 inch artwork in 1959 in his book, George Caleb Bingham, River Portraitist. McDermott also noted the companion piece of his second wife, Cornelia Ann Bryan (Mrs. David Hickman), and a later Bingham portrait of their daughter Sarah …
Provenance By descent in family. The subject’s grandson detailed the history of his grandfather and the ownership of the painting on an upside down blank invoice. The painting and note passed down through several generations to the current owner. Date The extremely high and wide collar and neck cloth indicated indicated a date in the mid-1830s. Facts below pinpoint a probable time …
