Portrait of Miss A. E. Allen

Ammi Phillips is one of the most recognized American itinerant portraitists of the nineteenth century in part because he utilized such distinctive formulas in painting clothing and backgrounds (see Mary Black, "Ammi Phillips: The Country Painter’s Method," The Clarion (Winter 1986), pp. 32-37). This allowed him to work quickly while still creating detailed images, and it enables attribution of unsigned works through analysis of these repeating elements. The lace collar and bodice in the portrait of Miss A. E. Allen are in keeping with those of Mary Hoyt, c. 1836, and Hannah Mills Raymond, 1836, pictured in Barbara C. and Lawrence B. Holdridge, Ammi Phillips: Portrait Painter, 1788–1865 (New York, 1969), pp. 34 and 35. The bonnet resembles that of Elizabeth Payne Phillips, c. 1824, pictured p. 34 of the same book. The painting has been relined; beforehand, as evidenced in photographs, A E Allen/ Aged 30/ 1836 was visible on the verso. Based on this date and the noted comparable images, this painting sits comfortably amongst known works rendered by Phillips during his “Kent Period,” which spanned 1829 to 1838. If the work was indeed created in 1836, it was most likely in New York State or Kent, Connecticut, based on the artist’s known commissions and whereabouts during that year.