Attributed to John Carlin (New York City, 1813-1891) Portrait of Ellen F. (b. 1839) and Her Brother George Lemuel Clark (1845-1851),Ne

Description:

Attributed to John Carlin (New York City, 1813-1891)

Portrait of Ellen F. (b. 1839) and Her Brother George Lemuel Clark (1845-1851), New York, c. 1850, unsigned. Oil on canvas. Ellen, who is about 11 years old at the time, sits at left, wearing a blue dress with white pantaloons and black shoes, with a bouquet of flowers resting on her lap. Her brother George, who is five or six years old, stands to her right dressed in a short burgundy velvet shirt trimmed with white lace and gold buttons, his left arm balanced on a hoop and stick and his hand resting on the bouquet in his sister's lap, seemingly positioned under the shade of a tree with pastoral landscape of fence, road and barn, ht. 48 1/2, wd. 38 1/2 (sight) in. in a replaced giltwood frame. Condition: good, re-lined, minor touch-up, re-varnished.

Note: Accompanying this lot is a hinged silver carte de visite, which has scrolled edges and a decorated engraved central reserve that reads "E. H. Clark" in script. This belonged to Ellen Howe Clark, mother of the sitters in this portrait and wife of Thomas J. G. Clark. ht. 3 1/2, wd. 2 1/4 in.

Provenance: This portrait was purchased directly from descendants of the family. Family history acquired at the time of purchase. Asenath Perry married Perley Howe of Framingham, Massachusetts, March 1815 and had three children: Ellen (b. Jan. 31, 1816); George (b. Aug. 30, 1817); and Benjamin F. (b. June 18, 1819). Ellen Howe married Thomas J.G. Clark of Framingham, Massachusetts, on Feb. 12, 1833 They had four children: William Henry (b. Jan. 5, 1835-d. Sept. 1836); Ellen F. (b. Aug. 15, 1839); George (b. May 11, 1845-d. Jan 20, 1851); and Georgia Asenath (b. Dec. 29, 1855-d. May 26, 1881). Their two children, Ellen and George, are the subjects of the painting, circa 1850. George died of tuberculosis in January 1851. According to his obituary, Thomas J.G. Clark, father of Ellen and George, was born in Plymouth, North Carolina, in 1810. At an early age, he moved with his parents to South Framingham, Massachusetts, where he was educated. He married Ellen Howe of South Framingham in 1833. They moved to New York City, where Clark had a thriving business manufacturing straw hats. He died at the age of 93 at his residence at 28 West 125th St. in Harlem. His daughter Ellen Clark Brewster survived him.

Note: John Carlin, a portrait, genre and landscape painter, was also a miniaturist and writer who was born a deaf mute in Philadelphia. He studied under John Neagle in this country and Delaroche in Paris. He settled in New York City, where he lived for 50 years, exhibiting at the National Academy and the American Art Union, the Maryland Historical Society and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
Estimate $12,000-18,000

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