Figure 1.--This is a typical portait attributed to field. The unidentified child may look like a girl in a blue dress, but is almost certainly a boy. He is wearing a garment that is a kind of a fusion of a dress anf tunic. There are several clues. First, his side hair part. Second, his the cut-front skirt. Third, the matching long pants, Fourth, the book that he is holding.

Erastus Salisbury Field Field after Samuael F.B. Morse closed his studio where he had briefly studies, returned to Leverett with minimal training. This left him a basically self-taught artist. His earliest known painting is a portrait of his grandmother, Elizabeth Billings Ashley (about 1826). Field aschieved some success as a limner or itinerant portrait painter. He traveled in western Massachusetts and the Connecticut Valley. His reputationn was achieving 'good likeness' in only a single sitting. He is best known for his portraits, most painted in the late-1820s-40s. This talented itinerant artisted filled the growing demands of growing America's middle-class for portraits. His career as a result prospered during the 1830s. His portraits commanded 'fair prices" abd guven the numbrer he cappsrently prospered. One art historuan reports, "Field's best portraits date from around 1836--the year he returned to Leverett from Ware--to about 1840." Thanks to Field as other itenerant artists, we have an acurare record of 1830s dasgions in the era just before phitograohy becomes available. Field is important becauuse of his accuracy and number of works. One art historian writes, "Rather than paint in the academic style he had learned, he chose to make the flat, simplified portraits that his clients preferred." We are not sure about this. We do not believe that Field actually learned acaddemic techniques. His work clearly improved in the 1830s as he did more an more portraits. We suspect his clients preferences may have been in part due to the low cost of a one-day rendering. He was prolific artist. Over 300 worls have been attributed to him. We have many charming images with acurate, detailed clothing depictions. Unfortunately many are undated and often unidentified. We are thus left to guess the identity of many of his subjects given that younger boys commonly wore dresses. Field's most important period of portaiture was the 1830s with some work in the late late-1820s and early-40s. His fasilure to dare his paintings means that we can not follow his progress during that period. Field's work provide an important record of boys wear during his most active period, primarily the 1830s. This was the period just berfire the apopearance of photograohy wjich was at first all Dasuerreotypes. We see dresses, tunics, and suits, depending on the ages of the boys. While the portraits are detailed, one thing that Field like most naive artists were not good at is to capture the age of the children. It should be stressed that the children that Field painted were from well-to-do, fashionable families. This is mot how the great bulk of Americam chjildressed.

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Created: 8:05 AM 12/15/2020
Last updated: 8:05 AM 12/15/2020