PORTRAIT OF A GIRL IN A PINK DRESS AND HER BROTHER

This extraordinary double portrait with its original frame and signed by the artist is amongst the most important survivals by William Matthew Prior. The charming work depicting a sister and brother exhibits the artist's success in capturing the sweetness and innocence of childhood. Prior followed an effective format in which he included an accessory or object with his subjects that identified their gender or individual interests, such as the book held in the young girl’s hand. Prior was able to paint in both an academic painterly manner as well as a more abstract style. This portrait is a particularly accomplished rendition executed in the latter style. Prior advertised “persons wishing for a flat picture can have a likeness without a shade or shadow at one-quarter price” which catered to patrons who wanted to spend less money or time. This approach helped him create a prolific body of work and suggested that Prior consciously chose to paint within a flat stylized manner. For Prior, art was a business and he successfully created a formula to attract many types of customers and maximize profit. These likenesses were often oil on cardboard or canvas and of a smaller size. The face of the sitter fills the plane and they gaze directly at the viewer. Here, however, the patron likely paid for the slightly more elaborate composition of a double portrait and the inclusion of drapery and a swagged tasseled rope which elegantly frames the space and the children. For additional information see Jacquelyn Oak and Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw, Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior Revealed (Cooperstown, 2012).