Lot 121: JOHN BRADLEY (FL. CA. 1831-1847) PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GIRL IN GREEN DRESS WITH POT OF FLOWERS

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Collection of Stewart E. Gregory, Wilton, Connecticut
"The Distinguished Collection of the late Stewart E. Gregory," Sotheby Parke Bernet, INc., New York, January 27, 1979, lot 253, illustrated in the catalogue in color
Collection of Margaret A. Barnard, the former Mrs. Stewart E. Gregory, Palo Alto, California
"Important Americana, Furniture and Folk Art," Sotheby's, New York, January 19, 1997, lot 1645, illustrated in the catalogue in color.
EXHIBITED

"An Eye on America, Folk Art from the Stewart E. Gregory Collection," The Museum of American Folk Art, New York, March 13-May 14, 1972.
LITERATURE AND REFERENCES

Jean Lipman, An Eye on America, Folk Art from the Stewart E. Gregory Collection (New York, 1972), no. 70, illustrated.

Mentioned:
Beatrix Rumford, Gen. Ed., American Folk Portraits, Paintings and Drawings from the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center (Boston, 1981), p. 62, endnote 3.
Deborah Chotner, American Naive Paintings in the National Gallery of Art (Washington, 1992), p. 30, endnote 1. According to this book only eight portraits of children by Bradley are known.
CATALOGUE NOTE

Painted circa 1825; on the original stretchers, in the original frame.
The back of the canvas stamped, PREPARED BY THE O'KEEFE NEW YORK Signed lower right, by J. Bradley, 128 Spring St.
New York

Jean Lipman initiated research on this artist as early as 1945, but only in 1966 did Mary Black and Stuart Feld establish the solid core of twenty-two signed works that so cogently illustrate the characteristics of his style.

Before 1848, New York City directories show that Bradley worked as a portrait painter - and sometimes as a miniautre painter as well - at 56 Hammersley Street in 1836-1837, at 128 Spring Street in 1837-1844, and at 134 Spring Street in 1844-1847, all addresses that are in the present-day area of Houston Street. Nothing is known of Bradley following his disappearance from the New York City directories in 1848.

Bradley quickly adapted his services to the demands of a new public. Children, because of their small size and still unformed features, made them prime candidates for full-length portraiture, and nearly all of Bradley's young subjects recorded to date are shown in such a pose.

Excerpted from American Folk Portraits, Colonial Williamsburg, 1980, p. 62.

34 1/2 by 27in.<br><br>87.6 by 68.6cm