Bidspirit auction | PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN ATTR.

PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN ATTR. TO AMMI PHILLIPS (NEW YORK/CONNECTICUT, 1788-1865) - Oil on canvas. Depicting a half-length portrait of a gentleman in a plaid waistcoat, black tie and dark brown coat seated in a red chair. 31” high, 26” wide (sight); in a period frame, 39” high, 34” wide.This painting was purchased from Raymond Murphy of Florence, MA in the early 1950s. At the time, the sitter was identified as Henry Sedgwick (1830-1916), an early banker in Lenox, Massachusetts. The painting was exhibited as such at the Lenox Library Association for the Lenox bicentennial celebration in 1967, and was catalogued as such when offered at Richard Opfer Auctineering (Maryland) in 2004 (it was bought back by the family). Lacking solid evidence of the identification, another candidate is Julius Rockwell (1805-1888). Rockwell was commissioner of the Bank of Massachusetts from 1838-40, served in the US House of Representatives from 1843-1851, worked as a judge in the MA court system until 1886, and was buried in Lenox. Based on a later photograph of him (available on Wikipedia), the similar shaping to the forehead and nose, as well as a nearly identical hairline.Based on the clothing, the portrait dates to the 1850s, so the sitter could be an older-looking Sedgwick or a younger-looking Rockwell. This portrait is illustrated in Allaway, My People: The Works of Ammi Phillips, v. 1, p. 166, and v. 2, p. 95. Condition: Good; conserved, including lining and scattered minor inpainting.