October, 1919 
41 
in a way filled its place in England, 
was not very far developed in the 
colonies, so that almost the only means 
which our ancestors had of preserving 
the features of themselves and those 
dear to them was to call in either a 
portrait painter or a miniaturist. 
There was just as much personal 
vanity then as now, and artists were 
always in demand. They travelled 
sometimes from city to city, setting up 
a studio and inserting an announce¬ 
ment in the local paper that they were 
ready for business. Italian and 
French and German artists came to 
America. 
The Carriage Painting School 
How would you like to have your 
portrait done by a carriage painter? 
At first thought the idea seems very 
curious. Yet in scores of instances 
the young portraitist graduated from 
the carriage shop. In those days, be¬ 
fore the coming of the machine age, 
a gentleman’s carriage was a work of 
art. It was built out of the choicest 
of materials, just as carefully as was 
the furniture in his drawing room, 
and when it was done it was embel¬ 
lished just as beautifully as is a mil¬ 
lionaire’s $10,000 motor car of today. 
The carriage painter had a 
calling he was proud of, and 
with painstaking honesty he 
turned out the finest job that 
was in him. He worked with 
the finest pigments money 
could buy — with just as 
good colors as Reynolds or 
What was more natural than 
for him to try to represent the human linea¬ 
ments with his brush? In many instances he 
tried and succeeded, at first crudely, and then, 
with practice and study, so artfully that, at 
length, he developed into a portraitist of talent. 
Another easy stepping stone to portraiture 
was the sign painter. As everybody knows, in¬ 
stead of street numbers, locations of business 
houses and inns in Colonial towns were given 
by signs. "In-Such-and-Such a street, near 
(Continued on page 82) 
“The Spanish Man¬ 
tilla,” bv Thomas 
Sully (1783 - 1872 ). 
.4 typical work by 
the first American 
romanticist. V o s e 
Galleries, Boston 
Romney used. 
owners, as well as faithful portraits 
of the sitters. 
The perfect consonance between 
Colonial furniture and Colonial paint¬ 
ing has an important bearing on the 
uses to which these old portraits can 
now be put, and gives the key to their 
increasing popularity as decorations in 
the homes of modern Americans, aside 
from the patriotic and sentimental 
aspect. 
Of course, it goes without saying 
that old American portraits make ideal 
decorations for Colonial rooms; noth¬ 
ing could be more appropriate. But, 
due to the similarity in development 
pointed out above, these old pictures 
are equally at home in rooms of pure 
Old English design; as decorations 
they are in the same tempo and are 
just as appropriate as a Reynolds or 
a Romney or an Old English mezzo¬ 
tint. This is more important than 
first appears. There are French rooms 
and Italian rooms, but Americans at 
the present time, as well as for the 
generation past, are showing marked 
preference for Old English and Co¬ 
lonial rooms. Is it any wonder then, 
that these early American pictures, 
after reposing through the dusty years 
in attics and out of the way nooks in 
the houses of unappreciative 
owners, are being brought out 
and, after having the grime 
cleaned away, are being dis¬ 
played in the dealers’ gal¬ 
leries and eagerly acquired 
by home builders and col¬ 
lectors ? 
“Duke of York,” by 
Benjamin W est 
( 1738 - 1820 ) a 
splendid decoration 
in the grand style 
of English por¬ 
traiture. Vose 
The Day of the Portraitist 
The public generally has the idea that artists 
were few in Colonial times and in the early 
days of the Republic, and it will be a surprise 
to many to know that, in proportion to popula¬ 
tion, there were far more portraitists working 
in those times than now. Though much of 
the work was so crude it has not survived, 
there was no scarcity of painters and no scarci¬ 
ty of commissions. There was no photography- 
in those days, and the art of engraving, which 
“Caroline Ritchings,” by 
Thomas Sully. Courtesy 
Vose Galleries, Boston 
“Mrs. Van Rrnsallaer,” by 
James Sharpies ( 1751 - 1811 ) 
Knoedler Galleries 
“Anna Izard,” by Gilbert Sully, 
shows what a splendid decora¬ 
tion the artist could paint 
