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拍品專文
Depicting two sisters with their arms intertwined and holding hands, this portrait is a particularly masterful and endearing work by Sturtevant J. Hamblin (Hamblen) (1817-1884). The brother-in-law of William Matthew Prior, Hamblin worked in a similar but distinct style. Details in this work illustrate hallmarks of Hamblin’s hand as discussed by David Krashes in his 2011 article on the Prior-Hamblin school of artists. These include hands rendered with the forefinger the longest and the other three evenly tapering toward the pinkie and chins defined by an inverted arc under the lower lip (David Krashes, “Understanding the Prior-Hamblen School of Artists a Little Better,” Maine Antique Digest (July 2011). Also, the pale blue-green color of the dresses and their pleated fronts are closely related to other portraits attributed to Hamblin, such as those seen on the girls in two triple portraits (Portrait of Three Brown Family Children, sold Keno Auctions, Stamford, Connecticut, 2 May 2010, lot 441; The Younger Generation, The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., acc. no. 1966.13.5). Here, the two girls are seated on a sofa with a distinctively carved scrolled arm support. This sofa was most likely a prop in the artist’s East Boston studio as it appears in a pair of double portraits attributed to Hamblin featuring four children identified as “Laura Ann Aged 9 Years, Mary Ellen 7 Yrs, George Albert Aged 4½ Years and William Wood 2¼.” Research indicates that these sitters were the children of George Washington and Mary Elizabeth (Wood) Hayes of Dover, New Hampshire and were born between 1840 and 1847, thus dating the pair of portraits to 1849 (Keno Auctions, Stamford, Connecticut, 2 May 2010, lot 436).
The portrait offered here was also most likely painted in 1849 or thereabouts as the sitters, previously identified as Mary and Elizabeth Hathaway, were almost certainly Mary Lucetta (1846-1920) and Elizabeth Alice (1841-1908), daughters of Elihu C. (1818-1887) and Angeline (Brown) (1818-1854) Hathaway of Fall River, Massachusetts. They are the only Hathaway family sisters found with these first names born in New England in the 1830s and furthermore, the book held by the elder girl appears to be inscribed “AL…,” possibly a reference to her middle name, Alice. The closeness of the sisters seen in this portrait appears to have lasted their lifetimes. Both lived and died in Fall River and while Mary married twice, John B. Locke in 1866 and Francis Mason Adams (1843-1915) in 1875, Elizabeth remained single and earned a living through dressmaking. They lived in adjoining bedrooms in a house from their father’s estate at 114 Winter Street in the early 20th century. As recounted in a newspaper article, on 5 November 1908, Elizabeth awoke choking and requested lavender from her sister, but died shortly thereafter presumably from heart disease. Upon her death in 1920, Mary was described in the local newspaper as “of domestic and musical tastes, quiet and retiring, though fond of society in a personal and restricted sense; generous and helpful, and wholly devoted to her friends.” She and her second husband adopted a son, Howard Pratt Adams (1880-1958), in 1884 and as the only heir to the sisters’ estates, he most likely inherited the portrait offered here (Fall River Daily Evening News, 5 November 1908, p. 2, 25 October 1920, p. 9 and 24 November 1884, p. 4).
The portrait offered here was also most likely painted in 1849 or thereabouts as the sitters, previously identified as Mary and Elizabeth Hathaway, were almost certainly Mary Lucetta (1846-1920) and Elizabeth Alice (1841-1908), daughters of Elihu C. (1818-1887) and Angeline (Brown) (1818-1854) Hathaway of Fall River, Massachusetts. They are the only Hathaway family sisters found with these first names born in New England in the 1830s and furthermore, the book held by the elder girl appears to be inscribed “AL…,” possibly a reference to her middle name, Alice. The closeness of the sisters seen in this portrait appears to have lasted their lifetimes. Both lived and died in Fall River and while Mary married twice, John B. Locke in 1866 and Francis Mason Adams (1843-1915) in 1875, Elizabeth remained single and earned a living through dressmaking. They lived in adjoining bedrooms in a house from their father’s estate at 114 Winter Street in the early 20th century. As recounted in a newspaper article, on 5 November 1908, Elizabeth awoke choking and requested lavender from her sister, but died shortly thereafter presumably from heart disease. Upon her death in 1920, Mary was described in the local newspaper as “of domestic and musical tastes, quiet and retiring, though fond of society in a personal and restricted sense; generous and helpful, and wholly devoted to her friends.” She and her second husband adopted a son, Howard Pratt Adams (1880-1958), in 1884 and as the only heir to the sisters’ estates, he most likely inherited the portrait offered here (Fall River Daily Evening News, 5 November 1908, p. 2, 25 October 1920, p. 9 and 24 November 1884, p. 4).