February 2007 - Amercian, British, and Italian miniatures

February 2007 has been marked by the addition of two American miniatures, one British miniature, and one Italian miniature.

However, all four have some American connection.

The portraits painted by American artists are, firstly of Colonel William Parsons Winchester, a wealthy Boston merchant, which is attributed to Richard Morrell Staig.

A close up of this is shown, also see Staigg, Richard Morrell - portrait of Colonel Will...

Secondly of Samuel Richard Guy, a slave owner from Virginia which is attributed to the Richmond, Va artist Edward Peticolas, see Peticolas, Edward F - portrait of Samuel R Guy

The British miniature has been identified as a portrait of Hester Osborne who emigrated with her family to the United States from Ireland in 1833. Her daughter Ann Osborn married Benjamin Payson Trott in 1848 in Springfield, Essex, NJ.

The portrait is painted in the distinctive style of Frederick Buck, for more see Buck, Frederick - portrait of Hester Osborn

The late 19C Italian miniature is of a lady in a white dress and is painted by Alberto Prosdocimi. He was a very talented artist and there is one other portrait by him in the collection.

As this is in an American type of frame, it is quite possible it was painted in Italy by copying a photo sent to Italy from the United States. There are a number of miniatures in the collection, including the other one by him, that appear to have been painted in Europe from photographs sent over from the United States.

For more on this one see http://european-miniatures.blogspot.com/2006/04/prosdocimi-alberto-portrait-of-young.html