December 2010 Premier (4)
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/10/2010
"Portrait of Edgar Allen Poe". Thomas Sully (British/American, 1783 to 1872). Signed and dated on reverse with the artist’s monogram, 1861. A wonderfully handsome and romantic painting of a young Edgar Allen Poe in a nice gilt frame. A teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Sully became one of the foremost portrait painters at the early part of the 19th century- a position he maintained for over 50 years. The son of English actors, Sully came to Philadelphia in 1792. After an unsuccessful attempt at a career in insurance, Sully turned to painting full time and had his work evaluated by Gilbert Stuart in Boston. Though Sully embraced the classical style favored by Stuart, he preferred appealing colors and glossy finishes. Throughout Sully’s career, his subject matter ranged from Old Master copies for wealthy patrons to a commissioned portrait of Queen Victoria. Sully’s portraits convey to the viewer a deep sense of romance, elegance, merit and intention, as though the subject were a hero of sorts. Arguably one of America’s most admired and popular portraitists, Sully produced over twenty-six hundred works in his lifetime, two-thousand of which were portraits. Old patch on reverse. Provenance: Purchased from an 1803 West Chester estate.
Item Dimensions: Image: 23 - 1/4" Dia.