Lot 419: Henry Ulke (German/Washington, D.C., 1821-1910),

Henry Ulke (German/Washington, D.C., 1821-1910), "John Edward Bouligny, U.S. Representative from Louisiana (1824-1864)" and "Mary Elizabeth Parker Bouligny (1840-1908)", pair of watercolor portraits, each affixed to mat printed with artist name, inscribed in ink with sitter and artist name en verso of the former, each 12 in. x 9 in., framed. ?

Provenance: Descended in the family of John Bouligny.

Note: John Edward Bouligny was the son of Louis Bouligny, who develped the Faubourg Bouligny, now in Uptown New Orleans, from one of his plantations.
Bouligny, the nephew of U.S. Senator Charles Joseph Dominique Bouligny, served in the United States Congress from 1859-1861. He was opposed to the secession of the state of Louisiana and he was the only Louisiana Member of Congress to retain his seat after the state seceded. A small, but memorable, segment of the New Orleans population were members of the anti-secessionist movement. Bouligny, who had married the daughter of a wealthy grocer in Washington, DC, and resided there until his death, belonged to this group of Southern Unionists.
These watercolor portraits by Ulke of John Edward Bouligny and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Parker Bouligny each include classical architectural elements in the foreground; the portrait of Congressman Bouligny also depicts the Capitol Building in the background (although the inscription en verso erroneously claims it is the White House) with the dome under construction. A photograph of Abraham Lincoln's inauguration in 1861 shows the dome in the same state of progress.