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An underrated and overlooked portrait painter from upstate New York, Otis Hovey’s work is distinguished by his telltale wispy locks, pursed lips, and pointy noses. Examples abound, but are rarely recognized.
Artist
Otis Hovey
(1783 - 1840)
Elisha Cleaveland Litchfield
Datec. 1820
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsFramed: 33 1/2 × 29 9/16 × 1 1/2 in. (85.1 × 75.1 × 3.8 cm)
Sight: 26 1/8 × 21 3/4 in. (66.4 × 55.2 cm)
Object numberN0019.1995
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Robert A. and Elizabeth O. Hutchin
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextThe Historical Association’s collection of folk portraits is among its most significant holdings and includes examples by nearly every major 19th-century folk portraitist. In cases where the artist cannot be identified, as in this picture, it is important that the sitter is documented. Elisha Cleaveland Litchfield was born in Connecticut in 1785 and settled on a farm in Delphi Falls, Onondaga County, New York, by 1810. His son (of the same name) married Mary Ann Ten Eyck, an heir to the Century House in Cazenovia, New York. An underrated and overlooked portrait painter from upstate New York, Otis Hovey’s work is distinguished by his telltale wispy locks, pursed lips, and pointy noses. Examples abound, but are rarely recognized.
On View
Not on viewc. 1860-1865
