Lot 618: * CLARISSA PETERS (MRS. MOSES B. RUSSELL) (1809-1854)

depicting the the visages of three living children below those of two deceased children above.

watercolor on ivory

4 5/8 by 3 3/8 in. 12.2 by 8.5cm

Edward Grosvenor Paine, New Orleans, Louisiana
Christie's London, Important Portrait Miniatures, April 15, 1997, lot 143
Wayne Pratt, Woodbury, Connecticut

This is the only known ivory miniature of five childen to have been painted by Mrs. Russell.

Mrs. Moses B. Russell [nee Clarissa Peters] was born in Andover, Massachusetts in February 1809. Little is known about her early life. It is believed that she taught at the Blue Hill Academy in Blue Hill, Maine and it is known that she was a practicing miniaturist in Boston in 1835. In 1839 she married Moses B. Russell (1809 - 1884) who also painted miniatures and was an instructor. The quality and charm of Clarissa Russell's work continued to bring her commissions even after the precipitous decline in demand for miniatures brought about by the popularity of photographic images. So highly regarded was Mrs. Russell that upon her death in 1854 the Boston Semi-Weekly Atlas and several other Boston newspapers printed front-page obituaries for her.