Young Boy in Red Holding an Apple

Young Boy in Red reveals John Brewster Jr.’s distinctive style and sophisticated, almost modern use of color and space. The child’s vibrant attire is offset by a more neutral, gradated terra-cotta background which optically forces the bright red forward. Born deaf, Brewster became a preeminent folk portraitist, choosing to travel throughout the Northeast painting likenesses of the rural elite rather than settling into one of the period’s deaf communities. He started working in or before 1790, first limning his family members, and later journeyed through Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York State.