PORTRAIT OF A BOY

Masterfully rendered with the artist’s signature subtle palette, precise delineation and background shaded with a halo effect around the sitter, this Portrait of a Boy is a supreme testament to the talents of John Brewster, Jr. (1766-1854). While the artist was unable to communicate verbally, his visual gifts were extraordinary and in his most successful works such as that offered here, he conveyed a remarkable degree of serenity and dignity to his subjects. This portrait was likely painted between 1810-1825. By 1810, Brewster had stopped painting full length portraits and focused on half-length portraits of children. As seen here, Brewster often presented his subjects in simple clothing as to not distract from their faces (Richard Miller, Avis Berman, Cynthia G. Falk, Lisa Minardi and Ralph Sessions, A Shared Legacy: Folk Art in America (Alexandria, 2014), pp. 114-117). At the time of sale in 1986 and 2007, this portrait was sold along with a portrait of the sitter's sister.