Lot 9: John F. Francis American, 1808-1886 Portrait of Mary Orr Atwood, 1845

John F. Francis
American, 1808-1886
Portrait of Mary Orr Atwood, 1845
Inscribed Jno (?) H. Francis/pinxit, dated 1845, and inscribed Chil...he on the reverse of an old relining canvas
Oil on canvas
30 x 25 inches
Provenance:
Ellen Orr Atwood, Chillecothe, OH
Her granddaughter, Mary Smith Henderson, by inheritance
Her son, Elyot Henderson, New York and Cape Nedick, ME, by inheritance
His widow, Sydney Henderson, by inheritance
[With] F. O. Bailey Antiquarians, Portland, ME, 1993
Literature:
Alfred Frankenstein, "J. F. Francis," Antiques, May 1951, vol. 49, pp. 374-77, 390. 393.

In 1845, John F. Francis was living in Chillecothe, Ohio, where he advertised his services as a portrait painter in The Scotio Gazette. The Francis family bible records that both of his children, Joseph Raphael and Mary Elizabeth (born in 1833 and 1834, respectively) were baptised in St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Chillecothe in 1845.

The present work is the only example from Francis's Chillecothe period to have been identified. It includes a vase of flowers at right which presages the next phase of the artist's career as a painter of still life.

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