JOSEPH H. DAVISNew Hampshire/Maine, 1811-1865Portrait of Clement Parker, his wife Rachel, and their cat, circa 1835. Inscribed in flourishing script lower margin "Rev. Clement Parker aged 53. Mrs. Rachel Parker aged 50". Unsigned.
Watercolor, pen and ink on paper, 8" x 10.25" sight. Framed 9.75" x 12".
Provenance:
The Collection of Martha Hamilton.
Notes:
According to genealogical records Clement Parker was born January 4, 1782, in Parsonsfield, York, Maine. He married Rachel Taylor (1785-1864) about 1808 in Cabot, Washington, Vermont. Rachel, of Windsor, Vermont, was born to Jonas Taylor, aged 32, and Hannah Blood, aged 27. Clement and Rachel had at least three sons and seven daughters, and they settled in Sanford, Maine.
Joseph H. Davis was an itinerant portraitist, most prolific between 1832 and 1837 when he is said to have painted about 150 small-scale watercolor likenesses, mostly residents of New Hampshire and Maine.
His typical portraits depict a husband and wife in profile, seated on opposite sides of a table, often accompanied by a cat. The details of their belongings -- newspapers, Bibles, letters, top hats, bonnets and books-- and their parlor interiors -- decorated with paintings, boldly patterned carpets and tablecloths, banjo clocks, maps, swags of greenery, and lively compotes of fruits and flowers -- often provide clues to their profession, political leanings, and levels of education and refinement.
While Davis's paintings give us a unique snapshot into the everyday lives of the comfortable New Englanders of the era, little is known about Davis's own life. He identified himself as a "left-handed painter" on one portrait, but because quills, paper and pots of ink figure prominently in so many of his works, some scholars hypothesize he may also have been a traveling calligraphy teacher. This is supported by the strong calligraphic line seen in his work and the particularly fine script used to record the subject names.
Condition
Not examined out frame. Toned. Minor staining to lower edge. Some minor spotting to upper right.
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