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The artist skillfully captured the personalities of siblings Charles E. (1844-1850) and Octavia C. (1847-ca. 1910) Adams, children of a blacksmith from East Boston. Although the painting technique suggests that Prior executed the portrait rapidly, he took great care to delineate the sitters’ cherubic faces. Details in costumes and props–such as Octavia’s coral necklace and bracelet (thought to ward off evil) and Charles’ whip–appear in both academic and folk portraits of the period.
Exhibition History“Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior Revealed,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, New York, January 24, 2013 – May 27, 2013; Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, May 26, 2012 – December 31, 2012.
BibliographyJacquelyn Oak and Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior (exh. cat. New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2012).
Paul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," Cooperstown, NYSHA, 1987, pp. 138-139, illus. as no. 83 on p. 139.
Artist
William Matthew Prior
(1806 - 1873)
Charles E. & Octavia C. Adams
Date1848
MediumOil on cardboard
DimensionsFramed: 20 × 26 3/16 × 2 1/4 in. (50.8 × 66.5 × 5.7 cm)
Sight: 16 1/4 × 22 3/8 in. (41.3 × 56.8 cm)
Object numberN0378.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextPrior painted this likeness of the young Adams children at about the same time he was advertising his ability to complete such “flat” portraits in a one-hour sitting. The loose, swirling brushwork and the thickly applied paint in this portrait suggest the rapid execution which allowed the artist to compete with the daguerreotype. The artist skillfully captured the personalities of siblings Charles E. (1844-1850) and Octavia C. (1847-ca. 1910) Adams, children of a blacksmith from East Boston. Although the painting technique suggests that Prior executed the portrait rapidly, he took great care to delineate the sitters’ cherubic faces. Details in costumes and props–such as Octavia’s coral necklace and bracelet (thought to ward off evil) and Charles’ whip–appear in both academic and folk portraits of the period.
Exhibition History“Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior Revealed,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, New York, January 24, 2013 – May 27, 2013; Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, May 26, 2012 – December 31, 2012.
BibliographyJacquelyn Oak and Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior (exh. cat. New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2012).
Paul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," Cooperstown, NYSHA, 1987, pp. 138-139, illus. as no. 83 on p. 139.
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