Paintings Worth Looking At

When the matched paintings of “ Newburgh Children ” and “ Palmer Children ” first appeared at Christie’s 2024 Important Americana (lots 429/430) , they were attributed to Edwin Weyburn Goodwin. But they bore a striking resemblance to the fine and elaborate portrait, “Miss Tweedy of Brooklyn,” attributed to Orlando Hand Bears for decades. As it turns out: Bears didn’t paint Miss Tweedy (real name Eliza Bird Tweedy.) Nor did he paint the identical portrait of Mary Louisa Bird — Eliza’s younger sister! And the “Tweedy-Bird Limner” was born.

Here's the transcript of my talk for the John Greenleaf Whittier Birthplace about Deacon Robert Peckham, "In Behalf of Oppressed Humanity." Many thanks to Whittier Birthplace director  Kaleigh Paré Shaughnessy, and everyone who attended.  Links are available here: Presentation Slides / Video . The transcript is verbatim (made with Turboscribe ); brackets indicate edits for clarity. This is a bit longer than most blog articles - thanks for reading, if you do! - - -