Skip to main content
ProvenanceRobert Palmiter, Bouckville, New York (descendant of sitter)
BibliographySandra C. Shaffer, "Deborah Goldsmith, 1808-1836: A Naïve Artist in Upstate New York," (East St. Louis, Ill., 1975), checklist no. 61 on p.38.
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.87-88, illus. as no.47 on p. 88
![The Crane Family (Susanna Crane 15 years and [10?] months)](/internal/media/dispatcher/4542/thumbnail)
Artist
Deborah Goldsmith
(1808 - 1836)
Permilia Forbes Sweet
Datec. 1832
MediumWatercolor on wove paper
DimensionsSight: 5 5/8 × 4 1/2 in. (14.3 × 11.4 cm)
Object numberN0103.1968
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Museum Purchase
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextDeborah Goldsmith, born in Madison County, New York, had a brief but successful career as an itinerant portrait painter. She traveled to neighboring counties executing likenesses for friends and acquaintances. It is not known if she had any professional training, but her sketch books point to her familiarity with the decorative idioms and pictorial clichés popular among schoolgirls and other amateur artists of the period. Goldsmith died at age 27, and her family preserved her friendship albums, paintings, worktable, and supplies.ProvenanceRobert Palmiter, Bouckville, New York (descendant of sitter)
BibliographySandra C. Shaffer, "Deborah Goldsmith, 1808-1836: A Naïve Artist in Upstate New York," (East St. Louis, Ill., 1975), checklist no. 61 on p.38.
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.87-88, illus. as no.47 on p. 88
On View
Not on viewc. 1885-1887
