Elizabeth Ann Ferris Preston

Datec. 1830

MediumOil on wood panel

DimensionsSight: 27 3/8 × 25 1/2 in. (69.5 × 64.8 cm)

Object numberN0064.1985

Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Museum Purchase

Photograph by Richard Walker

Label TextSheldon Peck became a portrait painter while living in Cornwall, Vermont and developed a signature style that included stiff frontal poses and sharp-edged, dour facial expressions. In 1828, Peck moved to Jordan, New York and later to Cato, where he remained until he moved to Illinois in 1836. Sheldon Peck's portraits of Andrews and Elizabeth Ann Ferris Preston painted in Cato, New York, where the Prestons owned a general store, illustrate the changes brought about by increased patronage as a result of the nearby Erie Canal. By focusing his attention on the sitters' faces and employing a simple, half-length composition, Peck kept sitting time to a minimum.
Exhibition History“American Folk Art: Collection from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, January 25, 2001 – March 24, 2001.

“Art of the Everyman: American Folk Art from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, May 28, 2014 – September 29, 2014.
ProvenanceMr. Peter Tillou, Litchfield, Connecticut
BibliographyPaul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," Cooperstown, NYSHA, 1987, pp.119-122, illus. as no. 71 on p. 120.

On View

Not on view