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Lot Essay
A poignant testament to the loss of a child, this portrait memorializes the short life of Mary Ann Wheeler (1833-1835). Mary Ann was the daughter of Homer Holmes (b. 1803) and Mary Ann (Roberts) (1809-1841) Wheeler of New London, Connecticut and born on 22 January 1833, she died at the age of two years and two days on 24 January 1835.
This portrait featured prominently in a pioneering article on Isaac Sheffield and as noted by its author, Edgar deN. Mayhew:
Sheffield painted her picture posthumously, in March 1835. He made her appear perhaps older than she was, with her leghorn bonnet and large reticule, though in the foreground he put some of her toys and pet possessions—a wooden horse and dog, a pewter porringer, and a cup and saucer. The face looks blurry, less clearly defined than those of Sheffield’s other portraits, and he may have worked over it considerably in the attempt to achieve a likeness of the dead child that would satisfy her parents. A distinguishing feature of Mary Ann as she is portrayed here is that she had two right thumbs (Edgar deN. Mayhew, “Isaac Sheffield, Connecticut Limner,” The Magazine Antiques (November 1963), p. 589).
In 1963, the portrait was owned by Marion Clarke, noted by Mayhew to have been a descendant of the family; furthermore, at the time of its sale in 1981, it was recorded as having being owned by the sitter’s relatives in the Beckwith Jordan family.
An itinerant painter who was born in Guilford, Connecticut, Isaac Sheffield worked in New York City and along the Connecticut coast before settling in New London in 1838. He is best known for his portraits of sea captains and his expressive renderings of facial features and eyes.
This portrait featured prominently in a pioneering article on Isaac Sheffield and as noted by its author, Edgar deN. Mayhew:
Sheffield painted her picture posthumously, in March 1835. He made her appear perhaps older than she was, with her leghorn bonnet and large reticule, though in the foreground he put some of her toys and pet possessions—a wooden horse and dog, a pewter porringer, and a cup and saucer. The face looks blurry, less clearly defined than those of Sheffield’s other portraits, and he may have worked over it considerably in the attempt to achieve a likeness of the dead child that would satisfy her parents. A distinguishing feature of Mary Ann as she is portrayed here is that she had two right thumbs (Edgar deN. Mayhew, “Isaac Sheffield, Connecticut Limner,” The Magazine Antiques (November 1963), p. 589).
In 1963, the portrait was owned by Marion Clarke, noted by Mayhew to have been a descendant of the family; furthermore, at the time of its sale in 1981, it was recorded as having being owned by the sitter’s relatives in the Beckwith Jordan family.
An itinerant painter who was born in Guilford, Connecticut, Isaac Sheffield worked in New York City and along the Connecticut coast before settling in New London in 1838. He is best known for his portraits of sea captains and his expressive renderings of facial features and eyes.