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Lot Essay
Jane E. Kinney (1808-1850) was Ammi Phillips' first cousin on his mother's side. Phillips painted portraits of each member of the Kinney family, including Jane's father and mother, Nisus and Sarah (Wakefield) Kinney, her siblings Andrew Jackson, Harriet, Sarah Jane, Susan, and Harriet's husband, Lucius Culver. Like her first cousin Ammi, Jane Kinney was born in Colebrook, Connecticut.
On the basis of an interview conducted by Barbara and Larry Holdridge in July 1959 with Ruth P. Miles of South Egremont, MA, details of the arrangement between Nisus Kinney and Ammi Phillips reveal something of the occasional bartering system of itinerant painting in the second quarter of the 19th century. Moreover, aspects of Jane's personal life and character emerged which may have informed the manner in which her cousin portrayed her. Miss Miles was a granddaughter of Jane's sister, Harriet, who lived with Miss Miles and her family when she was a child. According to family tradition, Nisus Kinney, known for his excellent horses, paid Phillips one good horse for eight portraits of his family. Jane Kinney, considered very pretty, was unfortunately less endowed in amiable character. Both temperamental and interfering, Jane thwarted her sister Harriet's love affairs, and according to Miss Miles, may have caused her own breakup with a suitor named Knickerbocker. She subsequently married Albro Fyler (b. 1808), who was recalled for his profanity and tobacco-chewing, and whom Jane was thought to have driven to drink. They had three children. Interestingly, Jane was known as an extremely accomplished seamstress and lacemaker, producing such delicate work as that seen around the neck and cuffs of her dress.
Nisus Kinney's portrait by Phillips shows the subject holding a newspaper dated 24 June 1848. According to Miss Miles, one of Jane's sisters died 22 July 1848, about a month after her portrait was painted. Accordingly, the painting illustrated here has been dated 1848.
On the basis of an interview conducted by Barbara and Larry Holdridge in July 1959 with Ruth P. Miles of South Egremont, MA, details of the arrangement between Nisus Kinney and Ammi Phillips reveal something of the occasional bartering system of itinerant painting in the second quarter of the 19th century. Moreover, aspects of Jane's personal life and character emerged which may have informed the manner in which her cousin portrayed her. Miss Miles was a granddaughter of Jane's sister, Harriet, who lived with Miss Miles and her family when she was a child. According to family tradition, Nisus Kinney, known for his excellent horses, paid Phillips one good horse for eight portraits of his family. Jane Kinney, considered very pretty, was unfortunately less endowed in amiable character. Both temperamental and interfering, Jane thwarted her sister Harriet's love affairs, and according to Miss Miles, may have caused her own breakup with a suitor named Knickerbocker. She subsequently married Albro Fyler (b. 1808), who was recalled for his profanity and tobacco-chewing, and whom Jane was thought to have driven to drink. They had three children. Interestingly, Jane was known as an extremely accomplished seamstress and lacemaker, producing such delicate work as that seen around the neck and cuffs of her dress.
Nisus Kinney's portrait by Phillips shows the subject holding a newspaper dated 24 June 1848. According to Miss Miles, one of Jane's sisters died 22 July 1848, about a month after her portrait was painted. Accordingly, the painting illustrated here has been dated 1848.