Lot 372: William Morris Hunt (American, 1824-1879), Two Oval Bas Relief Portrait Plaques: Thomas Couture, 1848 and Profile of a Woman in a Ruffl

William Morris Hunt (American, 1824-1879)

Two Oval Bas Relief Portrait Plaques: Thomas Couture, 1848 and Profile of a Woman in a Ruffled Cap, Thought to be Jane Maria Leavitt Hunt, 1841
Both monogrammed "WMH" and dated in the bronze, Couture titled l.c.,
Leavitt stamped "THE HENRY-BONNARD BRONZE CO../FOUNDERS. N-Y. 1898." l.r., incised "Jemima Leavitt/Married Jan. 1st, 1800" on the reverse.
Bronze with brown patina, oval format, sizes to 10 3/8 x 7 5/8 in. (26.3 x 19.5 cm), with applied hanging rings.
Condition: Dust and dirt to the interstices, Couture with minor wear to the patina.

Provenance: By descent within the artist's family.

N.B. The female portrait is thought by the family to be Jane Maria Leavitt Hunt (1801-1877), the artist's mother, although the incised notation on the reverse, scratched into the bronze in a later hand, names the sitter as "Jemima Leavitt/Married Jan. 1st, 1800." Jemima Loomis Leavitt (d. 1846) was the artist's maternal grandmother, and a marriage date of 1800 would seem likely, given that Jane, her oldest child, was born in 1801. The male portrait is the painter Thomas Couture, with whom William Morris Hunt studied in Paris from 1846 to 1852.