Anonymous Artist, Elizabeth Clarke Freake and Baby Mary, c. 1674, oil on canvas, 42.5” x 36.8”, The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Mrs. John Freake, of the Boston Freakes, was a real show-off. Colonial Americans were suspicious of art, judging it too aristocratic, but they did commission portraits because they were an excellent way to demonstrate wealth, especially if you were Elizabeth … Continue reading
Nicholas Bernard and Martin Jugiez, High Chest of Drawers, 1765-1775, Mahogany, yellow poplar, white cedar, yellow pine, and brass, 8’ ¾” x 46½’ x 25¾”, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Photo by mharrsch via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution License.
American furniture from the colonial era really is beautiful and the story of these pieces reveals key moments from American history. The high chest of drawers in the background of this photograph is of the American Rococo style, which is … Continue reading
John Singleton Copley, Boy with a Squirrel, 1765, oil on canvas, 30¼” x 25”, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Back in the Colonial era in America, people were suspicious of art. Art was aristocratic and European. The colonies most definitely were not. It was not easy for artists like John Singleton Copley to find training or work. Typically for … Continue reading