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Exhibition History“Portraits by Zedekiah Belknap: Itinerant New England Portrait Painter,” Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Williamsburg, VA, May 9, 1977 – June 26, 1977.
“Uncommon Quilts: Treasures of the New York State Historical Association,” Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO, June 4, 1998 – July 19, 1998; Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY, June 17, 1997 – August 31, 1997; Fenimore House Museum, Cooperstown, NY, April 1, 1996 – December 31, 1996.
“American Folk Art: Collection from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, January 25, 2001 – March 24, 2001.
BibliographyElizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, Zedekiah Belknap, 1781-1858: Itinerant New England Portrait Painter (Williamsburg, VA: Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, 1977).
Paul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," Cooperstown, New York 1987, pp.39-41, illus. as no. 15, p.40.
Jack Larkin, Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, and David Jeffe, Meet Your Neighbors: New England Portraits, Painters & Society, 1790-1850 (Sturbridge, MA: Old Sturbridge Village, University of Massachusetts Press, 1992), pp.102-110.
![The Crane Family (Susanna Crane 15 years and [10?] months)](/internal/media/dispatcher/4542/thumbnail)
Attributed to
Zedekiah Belknap
(1781 - 1858)
Two Children with a Basket of Fruit
Datec. 1830
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsSight: 26 1/4 × 26 1/4 in. (66.7 × 66.7 cm)
Object numberN0447.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextZedekiah Belknap attended divinity school in New Hampshire in his youth, preached for a few years, and then took up portrait painting as an occupation. Belknap traveled throughout Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts in search of portrait commissions. He later suffered financial losses, and spent his last years in a home for the poor. In this arresting double portrait, Belknap symmetrically arranged figures around a shared basket of fruit, thus creating a composition of unusual balance and harmony. Enhancing the visual appeal of the children's faces are their large eyes, full cheeks and mouths, pudgy noses and flat, reddish ears-all telling features of Belknap's hand.Exhibition History“Portraits by Zedekiah Belknap: Itinerant New England Portrait Painter,” Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Williamsburg, VA, May 9, 1977 – June 26, 1977.
“Uncommon Quilts: Treasures of the New York State Historical Association,” Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO, June 4, 1998 – July 19, 1998; Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY, June 17, 1997 – August 31, 1997; Fenimore House Museum, Cooperstown, NY, April 1, 1996 – December 31, 1996.
“American Folk Art: Collection from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, January 25, 2001 – March 24, 2001.
BibliographyElizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, Zedekiah Belknap, 1781-1858: Itinerant New England Portrait Painter (Williamsburg, VA: Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, 1977).
Paul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," Cooperstown, New York 1987, pp.39-41, illus. as no. 15, p.40.
Jack Larkin, Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, and David Jeffe, Meet Your Neighbors: New England Portraits, Painters & Society, 1790-1850 (Sturbridge, MA: Old Sturbridge Village, University of Massachusetts Press, 1992), pp.102-110.
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