Folk Art, Pair of Portraits, Man and Woman, Micah Williams, Original Frames A successful itinerant artist working primarily in Middlesex and Monmouth counties, New Jersey.

Micah Williams, 1782-1837

This pair of well-conceived intimate portraits of local New Jersey residents taken in the early nineteenth century are exceptional examples of Micah Williams' pastel renderings; the agreeable and pleasing subjects display a sophisticated handling of the sitter's facial features. The subjects are painted in a slightly canted frontal pose, slightly turned, displaying strong color. The portraits are mounted within handsome frames. Those of Williams portraits which in their original frames reveal a distinctive and consistent manner of layering and affixing the portrait first to a newspaper backing then to the frame and finally to more newspaper. Williams made his own pastel pigments, therefore there is some color consistency to his work.

Date: Newspaper dated 1828 [Essex & Bergen Advertiser]

Measurement: Frame: 27.5" x 31.5"; view: 21.5" x 25.5"

Material: Pastel

Condition: Fine condition, frames appear to be original; a tear in the lady's book was expertly repaired by the paper Conservation Studio in New York City.

Reference: Literature: See Micah Williams - Portrait Artist, Bernadette Rogoff, Monmouth County Historical Association. Also see Anderson, A Loving Likeness: American Folk Portraits of the Nineteenth Century (Princeton, 1992), p. 40.

$9,795

SKU: 1359-3

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

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