Attributed to Jacob Maentel (1763 - 1863)

Pennsylvania Gentleman

Date1815-1820

MediumWatercolor with glazed finish on smooth laid paper

DimensionsSight: 10 3/8 × 3 3/4 in. (26.4 × 9.5 cm)

Object numberN0081.1961(01)

Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark

Photograph by Richard Walker

Label TextRendered in full-length profile, these two likenesses are typical of Maentel's early Pennsylvania portrait style. Women wear Empire-cut gowns, have tiny feet, and often hold a flower or purse in their hand (N0081.1961(02)). Men wear dark suits with tails, stand rigidly with their legs slightly bent at the knees, and sometimes hold a top hat in their hand. Likewise, the artist carefully delineated subjects' facial features with heavy eyebrows over thickly fringed eyelashes, darkened lower eyelids, emphasized nostrils and pronounced chin lines.
ProvenanceMr. and Mrs. Howard Lipman, Wilton, Connecticut; Mr. Stephen C. Clark, Sr., Cooperstown, New York
BibliographyD'Ambrosio, Paul S. and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," Cooperstown, NYSHA, 1987, pp.109-110, illus. as no. 62 on p. 110.; Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, Texas), "American Primitive Art." [exhibition catalog] Houston, TX, 1956: catalog checklist number 21.

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