Julius Brutus Stearns (1810-1885)
Family Group Portrait Within Domestic Interior

Signed, dated, and inscribed (at lower left): J.B. Stearns N.Y. 1850

An unknown affluent family within a well-appointed room, eight children, mother, father, and mother-in-law. Most of the well-dressed children are posed with a prop. The oldest girl holds a fan, the young lady to her right holds' flowers; the child positioned before her father listens to a pocket watch. The younger brother watches his sibling sketching... they are flanked by the girl in pink dress holding a hoop while her sister holds a whip-like staff to which is attached a ribbon displaying the colors of the American flag.

Stearns, a Vermont native, was born Lucius Sawyer however, after a falling-out with his father who disapproved of his artistic endeavors, he changed his name. He was recognized by the public when he submitted the Millennium to the National Academy of Design in 1838. By 1840 Sterns was accepted and embraced by the New York art community. The artist created a serious of paintings inspired by the life of George Washington of which many were sold as prints... the popularity of these prints, other paintings depicting historic scenes and the mastery he developed and conveyed in his paintings gained him much attention and respect on the American stage. He was elected associate member of the national Academy of Design in 1848; elevated to full academician in 1849; served as the academy's recording secretary 1851-1865.

Stearns traveled in Europe during the late 1840s, during the 1850s focused on domestic genre paintings, portraits, and sporting pictures. His works are held by such noted institutions as the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Butler Institute of American Art, and New-York Historical Society. Sterns was killed in a carriage accident near his home in Brooklyn in 1885.

Date: 1850

Measurement: Frame: 52.25" x 64.5"; view: 44.25" x 57.25"

Material: Oil on canvas

Condition: Re-stretched and lined, very minor inpaint

Provenance: Recorded: Whitney Museum of Art History Purpose and Activities with a Complete List of Works in its Permanent Collection to June 1937, page 23; Mario Amayo, "Art: The Family Together-Paintings of Life at Home", in Architectural Digest (December 1977), page 116, illus. in color.

Exhibited: Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida, 1976, At Home.

Ex collection: Whitney Museum of Art, New York.

$18,000

SKU: 1125-62

For More Information, Please Contact David Hillier at 978-597-8084 or email drh@aaawt.com.

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