MID-19TH CENTURY ANTIQUE AMERICAN OIL ON BOARD FOLK ART, ITINERANT PORTRAIT PAINTING OF ENGLISH WHIPPET DOG IN CURTAINED PARLOUR, SITTING ON RUG IN FRONT OF WINDOW(Circa 1845-1860)
DIMENSIONS:
9 ¾" Width x 11 ¼" Height (unframed)
DESCRIPTION:
This absolutely fresh-to-the-marketplace and simply extraordinary mid-19th century American unsigned folk art, oil on board itinerant painting of an English Whippet dog, was just discovered in a fine Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts estate near Louisburg Square on Mount Vernon Street. It has not ventured out of this address on Mt. Vernon Street in Boston for well over one-hundred years. It's no longer in its period mid-19th century frame, most likely a mahogany veneer over pine or handmade lemon, gold leaf gilt wood frame. The pet portrait is most-likely pre-US Civil War (Empire period) and is circa 1845-1860. The painting is a portrait of a white English Whippet dog sitting on a red-orange, frilled rectangular rug, posing nervously or attentively in front of curtains in an American, early Victorian parlour, with a large window as a backdrop. It seems to be a staged animal portrait, where a pet would be asked to pose and sit for some length of time for an itinerant portrait painter. The dog wears a blue sash with an attached brass bell, no doubt to let its owners know its whereabouts inside and outside of the home. The dog looks at the viewer with an almost skeptical, inquiring eye. The fact that a dog would be the subject of a portrait painter instead of a person, is testament to the overwhelming love and importance of dogs in 18th and continuing on into 19th century America. The English Whippet breed of dogs is actually a small, short-haired Greyhound dog. They were smart, fast, agile and were seen as lean-and-mean hunters on a mounted hunting foray into the woods. Their bodies, as can be seen here in this oil on board portrait of a Whippet, are lean, sculpted and not concealed by long hair. They seem more like a well thought-out, streamlined hunting machine. The fact that the sitting, posing dog is literally looking back at the painter and now the viewer, seems to lend credence to the Whippet being viewed as a very intelligent dog, possessing near human sensory perception and cognitive skills. This Whippet seems to possess more distinct individual personality than many of the human subjects who would come to populate these personalized Victorian era portraits of family, children and their prized pets. The Whippet was a carefully bred English dog and was not found in every American household. These were the pets of the American patrician, urban, idle class and were ubiquitous signs of social standing and of the owner clearly belonging to the upper classes. But regardless of this 'class exclusivity,' the English Whippet dog in this period, mid-19th century American oil on board painting wins us over with its precocious, almost omniscient presence and seemingly kind and gentle disposition. The dog seems well-trained and apparently had unlimited patience. The painting is executed with real academic skill but also exhibits some of the trademark folk art hallmarks of itinerant, less-academic and less formal artists, who would execute these types of posed Victorian parlour paintings for the burgeoning American upper classes, to economically survive and to continue on as artists in Victorian America. With extraordinary detail and feeling, this oil on board painting of a sitting English Whippet dog, will not disappoint. Simply extraordinary. Untouched and unmolested. It is and remains as it always was. From a fine antique estate on Mt. Vernon Street in the famed Beacon Hill historic neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, comes this mid-19th century blast-from-the-past. Wonderful and enchanting and very, very beautiful.
CONDITION:
Very Good to Excellent overall antique condition. This mid-19th century American oil on board period painting has only a few very minor scuffs, and/or shallow abrasions or 'touches' to its surface. There's no paint loss anywhere in the pictorial field and is only found along where the margins of the original frame would have come into contact with the edges of the oil on board. There is also a slight wave in the antique artist board but the painting is largely free of any noticeable or significant damage. There appears to be picture framer notes in graphite on the gray bonded back of the artist board. It has not been out of this home for over at least one hundred years. Where it will land now is anyone's guess. Will you be its next thoughtful and caring custodian?
F. H. STOLL (AMERICAN) LATE 19TH CENTURY SIGNED OIL ON CANVAS OF BLACK & WHITE PEKINGESE DOG, ORIGINAL ORNATE PLASTER GOLD FRAME, DATED 1897
(Victorian parlor paintings)
Late 19th Century American fine art
12 ¾" Width x 13 ½" Height x 2" Depth (frame)
8 ¾" Width x 9 ½"Height (image)
DESCRIPTION:
In outstanding original, unmolested condition. It hasn't been touched. There's a very skilled old small repair to the linen canvas on the back. The area is clearly designated by a patch of white cloth applied to the back. The repair on the front of the painting is so skillfully done, it is nearly impossible to see where the restorer's hand even was. Extremely professionally done and in a manner which honored the hand of the painter F. H. Stoll. Other than this old, professional repair, the painting is otherwise in simply wonderful condition. It's still in its original ornate late 19th century molded plaster gold frame. The painting is signed in red paint by the artist in the lower right corner of the pictorial field. This stunning portrait of a black and white, long haired miniature Asian Pekingese dog features a clearly beloved pet, with its tongue out and off to one side of its mouth. This is from a period where prized, pet dogs were immortalized by parlor painters hired by the patricians of the Victorian idle class, to paint their families' pets. Of course, there are dog paintings and then there are highly accomplished and exquisite, masterfully done images of dogs, such as this Pekingese, which show how important dogs were to the Victorian idle class and who would spare no cent, pound or franc, to eternally immortalize their prized pooch in oil paint for generations to view, as we can fortunately do with this one. Extraordinary and over-the-top good. If you like dog paintings brimming with personality and life force, as well as being loaded with cuteness, then please take a long peek at this simply too-cute-for school period, late 19th century oil on canvas of a black and white Pekingese dog, and surely your face will start to crack a broad, brimming smile from ear to ear. This is why we love dogs and why we love art. The two seamlessly and caringly blended exquisitely together, well, is almost too much to take for our mere mortal hearts. Fresh out of a fine estate and offered for the very first time to the public. Imagine this little guy looking back at you everyday from a wall in your home or office. Magnificent. Regal and unmitigatedly beautiful. Top shelf.
CONDITION:
Very Good to Excellent overall antique condition. All original and in its original period frame. There is an old, very skilled repair, as can be seen on the verso, with an applied area of white canvas. This repair is so clean, that the restorer's hand is unnoticeable on the front, with no interruption in the paint discernible. Amazing.
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