Figure 1.--This portrait of the Wonson twins, William Newman Sawyer Wonson and Samuel Giles Wonson IV, waspainted by Moses B. Russel. Thry were born in Gloucester, Massax=chussets (1843). They look to be about 4 years old. That csuugests the portrait was painted about 1847. The boys were the sons of Samuel Giles Wonson and Elizabeth (Sawyer) Wonson. Their paternal grandfather was the first lighthouse keeper at Eastern Point and their extended family were in involved in the 19th century fisheries on Cape Ann. William and Samuel lived their entire lives on Cape Ann. William served in the Civil War with Company G of the Massachusetts 8th Infantry Regiment and aftdr the War worked on the Gloucester waterfront. Samuel married Belinda Friend (1866) and they had six children. He also work on the around the waterfront.

Moses B. Russel was born in New Hampshire or Massachusetts (1810). Russell worked primarily in Boston (1831-53). He was wll known for his miatures. He was a prolific artist with many signed works. We notice a lot of minatures of infants and very young children. His wife, Clarissa Peters (1809-54), was also a succesful miniaturist. Even with advent of photography, she and her husband continued to find a market for their charming minatures--the color, charm, and warmth attracted clients. After Clarissa died, Russel moved to Italy and lived there for nearly a decade. Presumably he was stydung the masters. He returned to Boston (1863). He worked on Boston as well as New York and Philadelphia for the remainder of his life. Their son, Aelbert Cuyp Russell, who they named after a 17th century Dutch painter, was an engraver and illustrator. A rare full-sized portrait of boys was the Wonson Twins. A large portion of the minatures are of infantsre very young children which do not tell us a lot of about boys or girls fashions. The twins are dressed absolutely identically. Even their one-sided curls are identical. The portrait was an effort to show the boys at play, but Russel was a naive artist without the technical skills to bring that off, so we have to use our imagination here. This of course is possible because of his beautiful portrait. Both boys have whips and hobby horses. The only real difference is one of the boys has discarded his beret. It is unclear if he has decided to do or if the artist decided on this. It made it easier to paint the discarded beret. The only other difference is the flowers at the side which surely have nothing to do with the boys. The boys wear absolutely ideltical red checked, pleated tunics. We wonder if this was an effort to emulasre atartan kilt which had become very stylish in Britain thanks to Queen Victoria. The tunics or dresses have open necks with small frills. They have narrow fabric waist belts. Their blue berets that have hanging ribbons or fabric from the small pom. Berets were not common headwear in America. They boys white pantakettes with their tunics. Unlike the berets, these tunics weere very common in the 1840s. We see these shirt-like tunics a good deal in the early Daguerreotype photography. Weare not sure just wht the footwear portrayed us. An art historian writes, "The strong colors and bold decoration captured in the boys' attire and the props that surround them, were highly favored during the early Victorian period and contribute to this painting's lively composition."

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Created: 5:53 PM 12/10/2020
Last updated: 4:23 AM 6/23/2022