Jane A. Davis (Connecticut/Rhode Island, 1821-1855)
Double Portrait of Jacob and Mary Withington
Signed "Painted by J.A. Davis Sept 18th, 1840" at top of image.
Watercolor on paper, 4 7/8 x 7 1/4 in., in a black- and gold-painted frame.
Condition: Minor toning.
Provenance: Howard Feldman, May 1, 1988.
Literature: Peter Tillou, Nineteenth Century Folk Painting: Our Spirited National Heritage, 1973, p. 2; Gail and Norbert Savage and Esther Sparks, catalog for the Exhibition Three New England Watercolor Painters, 1974, p. 49; Arthur and Sybil Kern, "J.A. Davis: Identity Reviewed," The Clarion, Summer, 1991, p. 42; Arthur B. and Sybil B. Kern, "Genealogy and Historical Research: On the Importance of Genealogical Methodology in Researching Early New England Folk Portraitists," in The Art of the Family: Genealogical Artifacts in New England (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 2001), p. 251; and Arthur B. and Sybil B. Kern, "The Key to Identifying New England Folk Portraitists," Antiques and the Arts Weekly, April 5, 2002, pp. 41-42.
Exhibitions: Three New England Watercolor Painters, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, November 16-December 22, 1974; St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, January 17-March 2, 1975; Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, Williamsburg, Virginia, March 25-May 11, 1975; Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, June 1-September 1, 1975.
The Arthur & Sybil Kern Collection of American Folk Art
Estimate $3,000-5,000
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