Circa 1825, watercolor on ivory, signed to left edge, the sitter with blond hair and blue eyes, attired in black coat, tied stock and high collar, presented behind glass in a velvet bifold case.

Case 3 1/2 x 3 in.; painting 3 x 2 1/4 in.

Collection of a Gentleman

Freeman's April 22, 2015: American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts, Lot 77.

It was during convalescence from a knee injury that Nathaniel Rogers, the son of a Long Island farmer, began to copy prints and make miniatures. He first painted miniatures in Connecticut, and in about 1806 he went to New York City, where he studied with Parmenas Howell, also a native of Long Island’s South Fork, and with Uriah Brown (act. 1808). He was apprenticed to Joseph Wood starting in 1811. When Wood moved to Philadelphia in 1813, Rogers took over his practice and became one of the most fashionable and prolific miniaturists of the day. His primary competitor was Anson Dickinson. Rogers exhibited regularly at the National Academy of Design and the American Academy of the Fine Arts until the early 1830s. He was a founder (1826), associate (1826), and academician (1836) of the National Academy and an associate (1817) and academician (1824) of the American Academy. By the 1830s he was spending more time on Long Island than in the city. In 1840 he built Hampton House in Bridgehampton and there retired.

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. 116.

Painting in good estate condition; some surface wear and staining to case commensurate with age.

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