Paintings Worth Looking At

Today, I was preparing a “portrait of the day” post, and hoped to include a batch of five paintings, rediscovered together, that served as a fantastic comparison point. They were found on the Frick Digital Collections , a consistently phenomenal resource. However - despite Frick offering a “large” download size - I found that that the result had crushed these nice crisp images into a tiny low-quality photo! Here’s how to fix that.  Firstly, please do note, for 99% of images on Frick, the “large” size (2048px) will be more than sufficient to approximate the quality of the original scan. You don’t need to go to all this trouble. However, when it is necessary, this process will permit you to extract Frick images in maximum quality, just the same as the high-resolution online viewer. 

There is no shortage of attribution corrections to be made, and interesting portraits to showcase! Here is another assortment of them, all posted first on Facebook and Instagram . While my work on the American Folk Portrait Wiki has precluded the writing of any extensively in-depth articles recently, I hope to keep sharing information whenever I can. - - - William W. Kennedy / Ammi Phillips / Sturtevant Hamblin / Royall Brewster Smith / Erastus Salisbury Field / John Bradley  

Recently, I’ve gotten into the habit of posting, on social media, a selection of portraits in need of re-attribution - or which have recently received new attributions! Here is the first group from March thus far. Please do stop over to the Facebook or Instagram pages if you’d like to have a look at these before they arrive on the blog. - - - Aaron Dean Fletcher / George G. Hartwell / The Empire Sofa Limner / Micah Williams / Joel Parks - - - AARON DEAN FLETCHER My very first feature was Fletcher, whose fabulous portrait of a small baby I spotted by chance in Google Images. Recognizing it as his work immediately, I was surprised to see it misattributed to Asahel Powers, and delighted to discover a wealth of treasures in the Smithsonian History Museum in which this baby resides. Peculiarly, among a Powers-attributed group of the same Vermont family – the Griswolds, of Springfield, VT – two are by Fletcher, and the other two, in fact, were painted by Asahel Powers and his mysteri...

This past August, at the 2025 Collectors Fair in Manchester, New Hampshire, I spotted a pair of portraits hanging on the display wall of Saratoga Fine Art. They could be nothing but Kennedys – and brand-new Kennedys, at that. I excitedly informed Walter Bazar, an old friend and who works with his brother Peter at Saratoga Fine Art, about the re-attribution. Within the hour, Walter had changed the label to William W. Kennedy, and a new pair of Prior-Hamblin portraits gained their names. Kennedy’s portraits have a sensibility all their own. His paintings are infused with a high level of technical ability, competently capturing the sitter’s distinctive looks with unique stylization. Like any other artist, he has his quirks – wide-set eyes, broad faces, gently curved hands, firmly outlined features. With practice, it’s possible to spot a Kennedy from a mile away. And, more or less, that’s exactly what happened. Very few signed examples of William W. Kennedy’s works are known, which has hi...

Not long ago, in pursuit of a particularly phenomenal portrait of Irish origin, I found myself learning about the entire group of 18th century Irish painters, en masse. As one does. How better to sort through them and winnow down the field of contenders to a solid attribution? Well, in this case, it didn’t work, but I did find something intriguing. Along the way, sifting through possibilities, I saved a trio of works by Thomas Pooley   (1644-1723, Ireland), with the note “Too early, sadly.” It was a shame, because I’d have loved for this to be the artist. The portraits are fantastic. They’re a trio of youths from the Perceval family , a prominent Irish lineage. I was stunned by the dramatic chiaroscuro and the innovative optical-illusion framing. I resolved to put the artist on my to-do list and delve deeper into his oeuvre.

​​Upcoming at Eldred's this week (Nov 20-21, 2025) are three lots I've had the privilege of writing essays for: portraits by Samuel P. Howes, Jonas Welch Holman, and William Matthew Prior. The Howes and Holman are from my own collection, personally identified. You can read the lot essays on this page, or on the various online auction platforms. While it's challenging to part with any newfound treasures, they're ready for new homes.  - - - - Both auctions will begin at 9:30 EST, but keep in mind: Session II (Nov 20, 2025) starts at #5301, so #5438B and C - the Holmans and the Howes - will be about 137 lots into the auction, a little over two hours. I promise they are well worth the wait! And Session III (Nov 21, 2025) starts at #5601, so #5603 - the Prior - is up right away. Good luck to all!