Mrs. Olive Collins

Date1830-1835

DimensionsSight: 3 13/16 × 2 3/4 in. (9.7 × 7 cm)

Object numberN0090.1961(02)

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

Photograph by Richard Walker

Label TextThese miniatures (see N0090.61(1)) display some carefully rendered details, such as Rufus Collin's patterned vest and his wife's white linen bonnet decorated with a combination of tiny black dots and circles and a ruffled edge. This artist utilized the same shade of pink in the two ribbons on Mrs. Collin's bonnet and scarf and in the delicately flushed cheeks and lips of both sitters. Rufus Collins was born probably in Columbia, Tolland County, Connecticut, around 1794. Olive Potter Collins was born on February 16, 1807 in Sterling, Connecticut, the daughter of James and Esther Perry Potter. They were married in neighboring Plainfield on December 19, 1830. The 1850 federal census for Connecticut lists Rufus Collins as a farmer living in Columbia with his wife Olive and their six children. An 1832 cemetery inscription indicates that one other child died in infancy. Mr. Collins died on April 27, 1883, and Mrs. Collins on May 19, 1894. They are buried in Center Cemetery in Columbia.
ProvenanceFound in eastern Connecticut; Mr. Frederick Fairchild Sherman, Westport, Connecticut; Mr. and Mrs. Howard Lipman, Wilton, Connecticut; Mr. Stephen C. Clark, Sr., Cooperstown, New York
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. 184-185.

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