Figure 1.-- Here we have a family portarit with a definitive date. It was painted by Anbrose Andrews, a skilled itinerant portraitist. He captured the children of Nathan Starr in their Middletown, Connecticut home. Andrews has advanced beyond the naive stage. Look at how he handles light. The chikdren's faces are beautifully done. He did not paint the standard portait view of the family arranged facing the artist. Rather he painted a lively intimate view of the children. They are playing playing an early form of indoor badminton called 'battledore and shuttlecock'.
Here we have a family portarit with a definitive date. It was painted by Anbrose Andrews, a skilled itinerant portraitist. He captured the children of Nathan Starr in their Middletown, Connecticut home. Andrews has advanced beyond the naive stage. Look at how he handles light. The chikdren's faces are beautifully done. He did not paint the standard portait view of the family arranged facing the artist. Rather he painted a lively intimate view of the children. They are playing playing an early form of indoor badminton called 'battledore and shuttlecock'. We see them in a sparsely furnished Greek Revival parlor, more like a playroom, with doors open to a patio offering a panoramic view of the Connecticut River. Notice the sailboats. We don't see any steamboats like the ones plying the Mississippi. The boys are wearing long pants suits. The older boy has a short jacket and vest donr in different colors. The vest is a bright yellow. The younger boy looks to be wearing a button-on suit--his partnof the portrait ios unclear.. They have identucal white collar blouses. The youngest boy wears a light blue dress styled like the white dresses his sisters are wearing -low necklines, high waists, and and puff sleeves. The younger girl has a blue satin sash. All the children have short hair. The oldest girl has a short side curl. The youngest child, Edward, holds a hoop in his right hand and a gaming stick in his left, pointed heavenward. He died (1835). His death may be why the parents had a portrait painted.
