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Husband & Wife Portraits | attributed Sheldon Peck (1797-1868)

$15,000List Priceper set

About the Item

Sheldon Peck was born in Cornwall, Vermont on August 26, 1797 to Jacob and Elizabeth Peck. Jacob Peck had fought in the Revolutionary War and was one of the first settlers of Cornwall, Vermont. Sheldon Peck married Harriet Cory on September 15, 1824. Together, Sheldon and Harriet would have ten children. He was a self-taught itinerant portrait artist who never signed his work. His earliest portraits, painted in Vermont, appear to be executed according to a formula worked out in an attempt to catch a likeness in a brief period of time. During this time, Peck elaborated on his sitters' coiffures and dress by painting curls, lace-trimmed collars and bonnets, and gold buttons. A decorative motif that reappears throughout the artist's career is a series of brushstrokes often called a rabbit's foot--a long stroke, flanked by two shorter ones. Peck used this decorative motif in the elaboration of lace and other decorative elements of the sitter's clothing. Sometime around 1837, Peck moved his family twenty miles west of Chicago to a town called Babcock's Grove (later changed to Lomard), where he became a respected farmer, community leader, landscapt painter, photographer, founding member of the Chicago Academy of Design. The 1840 census lists Peck as a farmer. His portrait painting business must have gotten better because the 1850 census lists his occupation as a portrait painter. Peck probably farmed during the summer and traveled as a painter during the winter. His work from this period are often full-length and sometimes include several likenesses on a single canvas. His pallet was brighter and many portraits feature bright reds and yellows. He sometimes avoided the additional expense for framing by painting a trompe l'oeil graned frame directly on the canvas. His later style developed to compete with cheaper daguerreotypes that were being offered at the time. While many itinerant portraitists of the day attempted to refine their technique by deliberately trying to paint more realistically to compete with photography, Peck chose the opposite approach. He appearst to have vhosen to paint in a simple style that would appear to relatively unworldly clients. Peck chose his style and went to the frontier to find people who would appreciate it instead of setting up in a metropolitan area where the most sophisticated clients could be found. Peck died on his farm on March 19, 1868 of pneumonia Bishop, Robert, Folk Painters of America. E.P. Dutton, New York, NY. 1979. 192-205. Lombard Historical Society, "Who Was Sheldon Peck?", http://www.lombardhistory.org/who_was_peck.htm.

Dimensions:
Height: 25 in (63.5 cm)Width: 22.5 in (57.15 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 2
Materials and Techniques:
Canvas
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
ca. 1840
Condition:
Excellent with beautiful period wood frames, Ex. Wayne Pratt.
Seller Location:
Wyomissing, PA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: U1206179092412D

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