1840s, watercolor on ivory, mounted to paper, verso ink inscribed signature Painted by M B Russell and date beneath, the sitter with dark eyes and hair curled, wearing a scarlet dress with jeweled brooch and necklaces, against an atmospheric background, mounted behind gilt matting and glass, within a bifold leather and velvet case.

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

Collection of a Gentleman

Moses B. Russell worked in Boston for more than fifty years as a miniature painter, oil portraitist, and daguerreotypist. He exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum, the Harding Gallery, the Boston Art Association, the Boston Mechanics Association, and the American Institute of the City of New York. Russell’s works displayed increasing skill and sophistication after 1839, when he married the miniaturist Clarissa Peters. For a few years she advanced his career by painting works under his signature, thus confusing scholars and collectors ever since. Leaving his wife and son in Boston in 1852, Russell took a trip to Italy, then lived in New York City and Philadelphia before returning to Boston in 1861. After the 1840s he gave up miniature painting, devoting himself to other genres in oils. Russell survived his wife by thirty years.

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. 192.

Some loss to ivory at far right side and upper left corner; some spotting to matting and minor wear to case.

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