July 14 & 15, 2020 Fine & Decorative Arts
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/14/2020
Born in New York, Charles Loring Elliott became one of the leading mid-19th century portrait painters, known for strong, un-embellished work that focused on the personality and character of the sitter. As a young man he went to New York City to study with portraitists John Quidor and John Trumbull. In 1839, he opened a studio in New York and achieved immediate acceptance, painting portraits of important persons in the political, academic, literary, and fine art worlds. His subjects included William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Cyrus McCormick, and James Fenimore Cooper. Major influences on his work during this period were portraitist Henry Inman whom he met in 1844 and also the new art of photography whose realism he strove to depict in his portraits. Elliott's portrait of Mathew Brady shows him in a buffalo robe gazing intently at the artist, his strong face ringed by a curly mane of hair. This portrait is illustrated in: Mathew Brady, Historian with a Camera by James Horan (Crown Publishers, 1955; p. 93). This lot is of serious interest: Brady was one of the very first American photographers, best known for his scenes of the Civil War. Elliott, who lived and worked in New York his entire life, was widely considered the best portrait artist of his time. Another portrait of Brady by Elliott is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Provenance: From the collection of G.W. Mayer. Scratches and repairs, especially to bottom right of painting and Brady's lapel. Other areas of scattered inpainting.
CORRECTION: Further research has indicated this is not Matthew Brady.
Item Dimensions: Frame: 31" x 26 - 3/4".
Artist
CHARLES LORING ELLIOTT (AMERICAN 1812 - 1868).
Title
PORTRAIT OF MATTHEW BRADY (1822 - 1896).
Signature
Signed lower right.