See parts 1-16 also for earlier works.
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This is part 17 of a 21-part post on American Folk Art:
Noah North (1809-1880)
Noah North was a sign, ornamental, and
portrait painter active in Ohio in the 1830s. He was born in 1809 in Alexander,
Genessee County, New York. He was painting portraits there probably under the
tutelage of Milton W. Hopkins (also featured in this post). Both were in
western New York in the mid-1930s, and both headed into Ohio at about the same
time.
He was back in New York State by 1841, when
he married and settled in Livingston County. From 1845 to 1847 he operated a
daguerreotype studio in Mount Morris, then worked as an ornamental painter for
a while. He took up farming, and died in Attica, New York in 1880.
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| 1830c ( attributed to: possibly by Milton W. Hopkins ) Portrait of a Man oil on poplar panel 69.8 x 56.5 cm |
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| 1830c ( attributed too: possibly by Milton W. Hopkins ) Portrait of a Woman oil on poplar panel 69.8 x 56.5 cm |
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| 1833 Portrait of a Woman oil on canvas 69.8 x 61 cm |
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| 1834 Eunice Eggleston Darrow Spafford, Holley, NY oil on panel 71.1 x 59.7 cm |
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| 1835-36c Gracie Beardsley Jefferson Jackman and her Daughter oil on panel 72.4 x 60 cm Flint Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1835-40 ( attributed to ) Portrait of a Lady oil on canvas 69.8 x 59 cm |
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| 1839-36 Major J. R. Jackman oil on panel 71.4 x 60.3 cm Flint Institute of Arts, MI |
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| n.d. ( attributed to ) Portrait of a Woman in a Lace Cap graphite on paper 34.3 x 26.7 cm |
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| n.d. ( attributed to ) Portrait of a Woman in a Lace Cap detail |
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| n.d. Portrait of a Young Boy with Belted Coat oil on board |
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| n.d. Portrait of a Young Lady oil on canvas 71.1 x 61 cm |
Milton W. Hopkins (1789-1844)
Milton W. Hopkins was born in 1789 in Harwinton, Connecticut. In 1800 the family moved to Clinton, New York. In 1807 he returned to Connecticut, soon marrying Abigail Pollard of Guildford. After Abigail's death in 1817, he married Almira Adkins and moved to Evans Mill, New York.
By September 1824, when he advertised in the "Newport Patriot," Hopkins was engaged in house and sign painting supplies. The previous year he and his family had moved to Newport, renamed Albion in 1826. For a short time in 1828 he served as Captain on an Albion canal oat, but by December of that year he was in Richmond, Virginia.
His advertisement in the Richmond "Constitutional Whig" in December 1828 indicates that he was an instructor of women in Poonah, or theorem painting, and it is probable that he also assisted a Miss Turner, who ran an academy foe drawing, penmanship, "Music, Painting on Velvet, Wood and Paper, and Fancy Work."
Hopkins returned to Albion in the autumn of 1829, and in 1833 he advertised his services as both a teacher and a portrait painter. Although Hopkins may never have painted portraits before 1833, no earlier works have been discovered. The first documented portrait dates from that year.
There remains much confusion between the portraiture of Hopkins and that of the better-known painter Noah North, who was active in the same geographic areas of New York State and Ohio during the same years.
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| 1833c Aphia Salisbury Rich and Baby Edward oil on wood 75.8 x 61.6 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1835-36 Eliza Pixley Lacey oil on canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY |
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| 1835-36 Pierrepont Edward Lacey and His Dog, Gun oil on canvas 106.7 x 76.5 cm Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY |
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| 1835-40c ( attributed to ) Woman in Black Dress 66 x 55.9 cm Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
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| 1835c Portrait of a Woman Wearing a Fancy Yellow-Ribboned Lace Bonnet oil on canvas 71.1 x 57.1 cm |
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| 1835c Portrait of a Young Woman oil on canvas 71.7 x 57.1 cm |
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| n.d. ( attributed to ) Samuel Warren Holland, Aged Two Years 66.5 x 556.1 cm Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC |
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| n.d. Portrait of Marietta Ryan oil on board 53.3 x 44.4 cm |
Sturtevant J. Hamblin (1817-1884)
Sturtevant J. Hamblin, son of Almery and Sally Clark
Hamblin, listed his profession as a portrait painter between 1841 and 1856. He
came from a family of artisans, which included his grandfather, George Hamblin,
who was a painter and glazier, his father, and his brothers Nathaniel, Joseph
G., and Eli. Sturtevant's sister Rosamund married the itinerant portrait
painter William Matthew Prior in 1928, and Sturtevant may have become his
brother-in-law's pupil.
Sturtevant resided for several years with the Priors;
he is recorded for the first time as living "at Wm. Prior's" in 1837,
the date used by scholars as his beginning active date, despite the fact that
his first signed work dates from 1841. About three years later both families
moved to Boston. In 1841 Sturtevant Hamblin and William Prior are recorded
living in Nathaniel Hamblin's house on 12 Chambers Street. The following year
they moved to Marion Street in East Boston; they lived there together until
1844.
Three of the Hamblins advertised as house, sign and
fancy painters, and Sturtevant probably earned part of his living in this
manner. By 1846 William Prior established his own residence on Trenton Street,
East Boston, where he lived until his death in 1873. While the Hamblins
continued working in the painting business, only Sturtevant is known to have
considered himself a portrait painter. By 1856, however, he evidently became
dissatisfied with his painting career and entered into a partnership in
"Gent's Furnishings" with his brother Joseph.
Because Sturtevant Hamblin rarely signed his
paintings, and his brother-in-law was such a prolific and popular artist, many
works attributed to Prior may have been executed by Hamblin. Careful stylistic
comparison of Prior-Hamblin portraits with existing signed Hamblins has more
firmly established the artist's individual style and illuminated a larger
portion of his oeuvre.
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| 1830c Portrait of a Young Girl Holding a Bouquet of Flowers oil on paperboard 35.6 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1840 Portrait of Ellen oil on canvas 69.9 x 56.6 cm |
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| 1840c ( attributed to ) Little Girl with an Apple oil on canvas 54 x 43.8 cm Private Collection |
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| 1840c Boy with a Hoop |
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| 1840c Double Portrait of a Little Girl with Toy Bird and a Boy with a Whip |
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| 1840c Little Girl Holding an Apple oil on canvas 57.2 x 46.7 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1840c Portrait of a Girl with an Apple oil on academy board 33.5 x 23.5 cm |
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| 1840s Lady with Black Hair oil on canvas 55.9 x 42.5 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1845c ( attributed to ) Sea Captain oil on canvas 68.9 x 56.5 cm American Folk Art Museum, New York City |
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| 1845c ( attributed to ) Standing Boy with a Book oil on canvas 91.4 x 60.3 cm Private Collection |
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| 1845c Family Group oil on canvas 76.2 x 91.4 cm Museum of FIne Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1845c Portrait of a Baby oil on canvas 69.2 x 56.5 cm Museum of FIne Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1845c Portrait of a Boy with a Whip oil on artists board35.6 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1848 Mother and Child oil on canvas 68.9 x 56.2 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1850c Emma Thompson |
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| 1850c Portrait of Three Girls oil on canvas 55.4 x 67.9 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA |
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| 1850c The Younger Generation oil on canvas 55.5 x 68.2 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1850c Young Boy in Grey with Flowers oil on canvas 68.6 x 54.9 cm |
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| 1851 Charles C. Henry oil on canvas 91.4 x 73.7 cm Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY |
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| 1853 Silver Cloud - Capt. Thos. W. Lewis ( see below ) 63.5 x 76.2 cm |
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| 1853c Portrait of Captain Thomas W. Lewis oil on artist board 76.2 x 33 cm
Label on the backboard: Capt. Thomas W.
Lewis Owner and Skipper of Silver Cloud joined Masonic Order at Cape of Good
Hope / father of Sarah E. Lewis who was wife of George B. Lawton, parents of
Edna B. and Ida M. Lawton / Aunt Edna died 2. 77
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| n.d Portrait of a Boy and Girl |
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| n.d. ( attributed to ) Portrait of a Lady oil on board 32.4 x 24.2 cm |
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| n.d. Portrait of a Dark-Haired Young Woman oil on academy board 33 x 23.5 cm |
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| n.d. Portrait of a Girl with a Fan |
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| n.d. Portrait of a Small Child |
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| n.d. Portrait of a Small Child with a Bugle |
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| n.d. Portrait of a Small Child with a Dog |
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| n.d. Portrait of a Small Child |
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| n.d. Portrait of a Young Man |
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| n.d. Portrait of Young Girl Seated in a Rocking Chair with her Dog oil on canvas 68.6 x 50.8 cm |
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| n.d. Portrait of a Young Boy and Girl |
