40 
House & Garden 
COLONIAL PORTRAITS as DECORATIONS in MODERN HOMES 
The Works of Smibert , Blackburn , Copley and Other Famous Masters—Their 
Analogies with Colonial Furniture and Decoration 
PEYTON ROSWELL 
“Mr. Webb,” by Gilbert 
Stuart, ( 1755 - 1828 ), who, 
following the traditions of 
the English school, could 
even make the portrait of 
a man decorative. Court¬ 
esy Knoedler Galleries 
“Mrs. William Allen,” by J. Wollas¬ 
ton, who painted in the South about 
1750 , with fine color and romantic 
dash. Courtesy Macbeth Gallery 
“Mrs. William Allen,” by Wollas¬ 
ton. She was Mr. Allen’s second 
wife and was wed at fifteen. Note 
the doll. Macbeth Gallery 
“Mr. William Allen,” by Wollaston. Smiling 
and at ease, he was a typical gentleman of 
the South. Courtesy Macbeth Gallery 
slavishly imitate the English originals but 
adapted them in a free manner. Some of the 
delicate beauty of the prototypes was left out, 
but in its place appeared an element of rugged 
and austere individuality—a crudity that is 
now cherished because it so aptly represents 
the character and personality of our forefathers, 
upon which the structure of American achieve¬ 
ment is founded. Yet some of the Colonial 
cabinet makers were so endowed with 
the worship of beauty that their products 
rank in artistic value with the best that 
their contemporaries did across the At¬ 
lantic. 
Likewise, the portraitists of Colonial 
times found their inspiration in the work 
that their fellow painters had done in 
England. A few of them went to Italy, 
where they drank from the same font as 
their English brethren, but they invaria¬ 
bly spent more time in London. However, 
by far the greater number developed their 
art in America and never left its shores. 
Beginning by copying prints, they learned 
their art mainly from actually painting 
men and women; hence, like Colonial 
furniture, early American portraiture 
owes its chief charm to its truthfulness 
and its perfect reflection of the times. 
Decorative Qualities 
Now, because early American painting 
owed its inspiration and much of its 
origin to England, it had to be decora¬ 
tive in color and arrangement. It would 
be hard to find anything more beautiful 
in the whole world of art than the great 
paintings of the Eighteenth Century En¬ 
glish school of portraiture. Bright color 
and carefully composed arrangement 
were their very essence. One has but to recall 
the masterpieces of Reynolds, Gainsborough, 
Romney, Hoppner and Raeburn to appreciate 
this truth. The works of Jonathan Black¬ 
burn, John Singleton Copley and Benjamin 
West show the direct analogy that existed be¬ 
tween the early English and Colonial schools. 
These artists aimed to achieve beautiful com¬ 
positions that would grace the walls of the 
Analogous Painting and Furniture 
The analogy between Colonial furniture and 
Colonial painting is so close that their develop¬ 
ment may be said to have been not only simi¬ 
lar, but identical. 
The cabinet makers of the early American 
era used as their models the furniture created 
in the mother land. However, they did not 
^T^HIS is the day of indigenous art in 
_L America. 
Partly due, perhaps, to the new awak¬ 
ening of patriotism in the country, it is 
nevertheless pleasing to think that the 
wave of appreciation for native works 
of art also has much of its origin in a 
real development of our good taste, which 
has at last led us to see that nothing can 
be quite so appropriate in America as 
that which America itself inspired. 
Therefore the connoisseur hails with joy 
the new tendency of the people to prefer 
contemporary American paintings to 
those that came from abroad and con¬ 
temporary American sculpture to the 
product of Europeans. 
In the realm of the antique this predi¬ 
lection for native art is reflected no less 
strongly in the popularity of Colonial 
furniture, which is most eagerly sought 
by the collectors, and the search for old 
American portraits to Ire used as decora¬ 
tions in our homes. Both movements 
have developed in the last few years. 
The same stateliness and beauty that 
characterizes one characterizes the other. 
The substantiality and austerity that are 
the charm of Colonial decoration, have 
their concomitant qualities in the purity 
and rigid integrity of Colonial portraits. 
