Portraits of a Man and Wife
Oil on paper board
Attributed to William Matthew Prior (1806-1873)
New England
C. 1850
10″ x 14″, 16″ x 20″ Overall
This charming pair of portraits survive in excellent condition in their original veneered frames.
According to the National Gallery of Art’s biography of Prior, he was born in Bath, Maine and his first dated portrait was in 1823. He may have apprenticed to or shared space in Portland with Charles Codman. In 1829 he married Rosamond Clark Hamblin, a member of the family of painters, and lived and worked with the her family in a number of New England towns. He traveled mainly in New England but ventured as far south as Baltimore in search of commissions. His work is characterized by stylistic variety which can be at least partially explained by one of his advertisements which read: “Persons wishing for a flat picture can have alikeness without shade or shadow at one-quarter price’ – making it quite clear that complexity and academic finish were subject to price. Prior prepared his own canvases and paints, and made some of his own frames. The frames on our portraits match those on many other Prior portraits and were likely made by the artist or his sons.
