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Lot Essay
Working in the style of the Prior-Hamblin school, William Kennedy was born in New Hampshire and worked as an itinerant artist throughout New England. He moved to Baltimore in 1849 or 1850 where from 1856 to 1859, he lived in close proximity to his fellow portrait painter, Matthew Prior.
A number of traits associated with Kennedy's work have been identified. These include exaggerated shading around the nose and at the fingertips, which are evident on the portrait offered here. As his style became more academic as his career progressed, it is likely that this portrait was painted while he lived Baltimore (see Rumford, ed., American Folk Portraits: Paintings and Drawings from the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Boston, 1981, pp.136-137).
A number of traits associated with Kennedy's work have been identified. These include exaggerated shading around the nose and at the fingertips, which are evident on the portrait offered here. As his style became more academic as his career progressed, it is likely that this portrait was painted while he lived Baltimore (see Rumford, ed., American Folk Portraits: Paintings and Drawings from the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Boston, 1981, pp.136-137).