Early American Portrait


Figure 1.--This portrait shows an American boy wearing a dress and holding a parrot which is not very happy about the cat below. The boy wears a light-weight lacy summer dress. It is sleevesless with what look like leading strings. The dress could have been worn by a boy or girl at the time. The painting is undated and unattributed. We would date it to about the 1830s. Click on the image for a full view.

This portrait is unattributed. There is no indication on this portrait as to the identity of the artist. There is also no indication as to who the subject of the portrait might be. The child looks to be a boy who is about 4 years old. We rather think the portrait was done in the South. Grapes are harvested in the Fall in the North and I don't think thevboy would have been dressed like this in the Fall. He looks like he is dressed for a hot summer day. The portrait is undated, but we would guess the 1830s. The boy looks to be wearing a light-weight lacy summer dress. It is sleevesless woth what look like leading strings. The dress could have been worn by a boy or girl at the time.

Artist

This portrait is unattributed. There is no indication on this portrait as to the identity of the artist.

Subject

There is also no indication as to who the subject of the portrait might be. The child looks to be a boy who is about 4 years old, but age is often not well reprsented in portraits by naive artists. We believe that the child is almost surely a boy. A girl would have never been posed with her foot up on a stool like this. Also his face anf hair style suggest a boy. We suspect that the boy might come from a wealthy family. The fact that a portrait is being done of a child is one indicator of wealth. The parrot in particular is not a pet that most families would have.

Location

We rather think the portrait was done in the South. Grapes are harvested in the Fall in the North and I don't think thevboy would have been dressed like this in the Fall. He looks like he is dressed for a hot summer day. We note that the portrait was for sale in Florida.

Chronology

The portrait is undated, but we would guess the 1830s. We believe that earlier a child would have had a linger dress and by the 1950s, photographic portraits were becoming more common.

Dress

The boy looks to be wearing a light-weight lacy summer dress. It is sleeveless with what look like bows, perhaps symbolozing leading strings which were oing out of style. The bows are blue and contrast with the gossimer-like white fabric of the dress. The dress could have been worn by a boy or girl at the time. The fabric looks to be rather sheer and expensive.


Figure 2.--This portrait shows an American boy wearing a dress and going barefoot. Rather an unusual portrait in that the boy is barefoot for a formal portrait. This enlargement shows the cat. Click on the image for a similar portrait, perhaps by the same artist.

Barefeet

Going barefoot is today seen as a very casual style. This was lot always the case in America and some other countries like Australia and New Zealand. Although less common in Europe, American boys might go barefoot in a varirty of outfits--even formal dress up outfits like Fauntleroy suits. American boys also commonly went barefoot during the summer in dresses, tunics, sailor suits, and knickers. They not only went barefoot in play clothes, but might even go barefoot in their best clothes--especially in the South. This was much less common in Europe where bare feet were seen as a expression of poverty.

Hair

The child has a short boyish hair cutvwith a left part.

Props

There are three props in the portrait. The first is the parrot which the boy is doing a good job of holding. The second is the cat which is trying to get at the parrot. The boy also holds some grapes. I do not know if they are for him or the parrot, perhaps both. The painting suggestsd that the boy is rather more attached to the parrot than the cat. The parrot is rather an usdual prop for such portraits.

Other Portraits

While we do not know who this artist was, we have found another portarit that appears to be by the same artist. Most images we have noted of boys wearing dresses show them wearing shoes. This is probably because that boys were normally dressed up to have their portraits taken. We have, however, noted afew paintings and photographs of barefoot boys wearing dresses.








Christopher Wagner





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Created: July 24, 2002
Last updated: July 24, 2002