Circa 1795, watercolor on ivory, unsigned, depicting a handsome blue-eyed gentleman with powdered wig wearing a white shirt with tied cravat and blue jacket, against a warm ground, mounted within a gold filled locket, verso aperture with plated hair within a deep green guilloche enamel surround.
The locket interior retains a period jewelers trade card reading "J Cook & Co. / Goldsmiths / Jewelers / at the Eagle & Pearl / No. 133 William Street / New Work," the aperture covered in parchment masking other faintly discernible trade related ink inscriptions.

Locket 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.; sight size 2 1/2 x 2 in.

Collection of a Gentleman

The son of a goldsmith, Walter Robertson entered the Dublin Society Schools in 1765 and began his career as a miniaturist by 1768. He exhibited at the Society of Artists in Dublin from 1769 to 1775 and again in 1777 and was regarded as the city’s leading miniature painter. From 1784, Robertson was in London trying to gain commissions, but he returned to Dublin in 1792 in financial straits. He became friendly with Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828), who had been in the city for five years. Together, in 1793, they made the voyage to New York; Robertson painted a miniature of the ship’s owner, John Shaw (Cincinnati Art Museum), and Stuart painted his oil portrait (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), in partial exchange for passage. In New York, Robertson made miniature versions of Stuart’s oil portraits, while retaining his own artistic character; none of the works are exact copies. The next year Robertson and Stuart went to Philadelphia in pursuit of sittings with President George Washington. Robertson made several likenesses of Washington and at least two of Martha Washington. It would appear that he returned to New York in 1796. Shortly thereafter he left the city for India, where he died.

Source: Barratt,Carrie Rebora and Zabar, Lori. American Portrait Miniatures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010. pg. 52.

Painting in good condition; case with crack to cover glass over enamel.

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