AMER WINTER 2016
The live portion of this session begins on Wednesday, February 3, 2016.
PAINT-DECORATED PINE PORTRAIT BOX ATTRIBUTED TO ROYALL BREWSTER SMITH.New England, possibly Maine, circa 1830. Grain painted on all surfaces with a bust portrait painted on top of a gentleman wearing a black coat, striped vest, black stock and white collar.
Born in Buxton, Maine, 7 August 1801, Dr. Royall Brewster was the eleventh of fourteen children of John McCurdy and Elizabeth McLellan Smith. Royall successfully survived a childhood of limited financial means and some illness to become a successful artisan.
Between 1830 and 1837, Royall Brewster Smith executed approximately three dozen portraits of residents throughout southern Maine. As an itinerant artist, he painted subjects from such towns as Limington, Gorham, and Saco. Many of these sitters were from related families, some of them connected to Smith''s own. There is no indication that Smith ever received formal training. Generally his works are three-quarter, half-length views on simple but brightly colored backgrounds.
In 1840 he married Roxana Gowen in the town of Gorham. By 1843 the couple had moved to Bangor, where Smith worked as a carpenter and painter until his death in December 1855. (This is an edited version of the artist''s biography published, or to be published, in the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue). SIZE: 10" h x 30" l x 14-1/4" d. PROVENANCE: Sotheby''s New York, October 1987 "The American Folk Art Collection of Mr. & Mrs. H. John Thayer" Lot 124. CONDITION: Some old scrapes and worn edges, otherwise very good. 49789-1 WAG (5,000-10,000)