Circa 1785, watercolor on ivory, unsigned, the gentleman with powdered wig, frilled white cravat, set behind glass within a gold filled bracelet locket.

Frame 1 5/8 x 1 1/4 in.; painting 1 9/16 x 1 3/16 in.

Collection of a Gentleman

After studying at the Dublin Society’s Drawing School (entered 1763), Ramage lived in London and, by about 1772, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, before moving to Boston in 1775 and establishing himself as a miniature painter and goldsmith. He returned to Halifax with a loyalist regiment in 1776 and within a year had left his charge and arrived in British-occupied New York City, seeking portrait commissions. He quickly became the city’s leading miniaturist and retained that distinction until he left for Montreal in 1794. Among his distinguished sitters were George Washington; George Clinton, governor of New York; and members of the Van Rensselaer, Ludlow, Van Cortlandt, and Pintard families. Ramage also produced allegorical and memorial scenes in miniature and he both imported and created his own gold cases, noted for their elliptical (marquise) shapes and delicate fluted, scalloped, and engraved fillets. Ramage’s work desk with tools and artist samples is owned by the New- York Historical Society. His personal life, of which few details are known, seems to have been highly complicated; he died in Montreal, where he had fled from his creditors.

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. 38.

Painting in good estate condition; the locket with some scratches, loss to bail and without band.

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