Pair of American Federal Male and Female Portraits

PAIR of American Country gilt framed oil paintings portraits of lady in lace and man with black collar (19th Cent)

American Victorian gilt framed oil painting portrait of lady with white lace collar

Painted in the early 19th century, this couple most likely came from means, as portraits were not an inexpensive proposition back then. They are dressed conservatively, but beyond th...

These charming English School portraits show the subjects half-length by a desk, the surgeon with a skull at his elbow and his wife with an open writing box. Oil on canvas within a gilded frame and accompanied by five related letters. English, circa 1810. Footnote: Robert Prideaux died aged 36 in 1818 but in his short life he managed to rise rapidly through the ranks as a naval surgeon. The Naval Chronicle Vol. 19 (1808) records his appointment as a surgeon, aged only 26, on the cutter Sprightly and that he moved to the Lily by the end of the same year. In 1809, a member of the crew of the vessel Polyphemus was involved in a drunken incident that culminated in him being sick on the quarter-deck of the Lily whilst both vessels were docked at Port Royal in Jamaica. This led to a Court Martial appearance for one Joseph Fountain, the Master at Arms...