Lot 691: *JOSEPH STEWARD (1753-1822)

A YOUNG BOY IN A RED JACKET, YELLOW HOUSE IN BACKGROUND: A PORTRAIT OF SAMUEL TRACY COIT oil on canvas Label marked Prop of Nina Fletcher Little, 305 Warren St. Brookline Mass. Note has Mrs. Little's jelly label inscribed Samuel Tracy Coit? B. May 8, 1790 M. Penelope Abbot. Joseph Steward was born in Upton, Massachusetts, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1780. In 1789 he married Sarah Moseley of Hampton, Connecticut. During this period Steward initiated his painting career and became an early instructor of the deaf and dumb artist John Brewster, Jr., whose father was Hampton's foremost physician. In 1796 Steward opened a painting room in the newly completed Hartford Museum in the ``east upper space chamber for portrait painting and natural curiosities''. Joseph Steward was one of New England's most competent provincial artists, and many of his large canvases are rich in color and detail. In addition to achieving convincing likenesses of his subjects, he introduced into the paintings furnishings typical of the period, which add greatly to one's visual impressions of late eighteenth century interiors and exteriors.

Vose Galleries, Boston, Massachusetts The Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little Collection, Part II, October 21 and 22, 1994, Sale 6612, lot 712