THE DOW TWINS: JOSIAH COFFIN (1809-1833) AND RICHARD WEARE (1809-1840)

Details

JOHN BREWSTER, JR. (1766-1854)
THE DOW TWINS: JOSIAH COFFIN (1809-1833) AND RICHARD WEARE (1809-1840)
Painted in 1810
oil on canvas
22 x 29 in.

Provenance

George Worthington Dow (1811-1884), Boston and Salem, Massachusetts, Wakefield, New Hampshire and Brooklyn, New York, brother of the sitters
Abbott Low Dow (1845-1914), New York, Derby, Connecticut and Wakefield, son
Cornelia Herriman (Dow) Bancroft (1872-1960), Brooklyn, Boston and Saint Petersburg, Florida, daughter
Probably Charles Foster Bancroft (1906-1982), Boston, New Canaan, Connecticut and York, Maine, son
Doyle Galleries, New York, 18 November 1981, lot 108

Literature

"A Look at the Auctions," Antiques and the Arts Weekly, 27 November 1981, p. 48.
Lita Solis-Cohen, "Doyle's Americana Sale," Maine Antique Digest, January 1982, p. 10-A.
Harlan Lane, A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster, Jr. (Boston, 2004), included in inventory, n.p.
Paul S. D'Ambrosio, The World of John Brewster, Jr. (New York, 2006), pl. 28.
Peter Goodman, Notebook, no. 744.

Exhibited

Cooperstown, New York, Fenimore Art Museum and New York, American Folk Art Museum, A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster Jr., 1 April-31 December 2005 (Cooperstown), 4 October 2006-7 January 2007 (New York City).

Sale room notice

Please note, the name of one of the sitters is Josiah Coffin Dow, not Jeremiah as printed.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Cara Zimmerman Head of Americana and Outsider Art

CZimmerman@christies.com +1 212 636 2230

Lot Essay

A rare double portrait by John Brewster, Jr. (1766-1854), this likeness of baby twins Josiah Coffin Dow (1809-1833) and Richard Weare Dow (1809-1840) can be reliably dated to circa 1810 given the age of the sitters. On May 4 of that year, John Brewster, Jr. advertised in the Salem Gazette, as did the sitters' father, Josiah Dow (1783-1850) for his business of selling imported fabrics (Salem Gazette, 4 May 2010, pp. 1, 3). No doubt Josiah perused this newspaper and may have commissioned this portrait as a result of seeing Brewster's advertisement. Both twins died at relatively young ages, Josiah at the age of 24 and Richard at the age of 31 in a widely reported tragedy of the burning of the steamer Lexington in Long Island Sound. The portrait descended to their younger brother, George Worthington Dow (1811-1884) and then directly in the family until its sale at auction in 1981.

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