Description:
Five miniature portraits attributed to Rufus Porter arranged horizontally in one frame. From left to right: 1. proper right profile view of a young woman wearing a pink dress with a white ruffled collar and a pearl necklace. She has dark brown hair styled with two combs. Label on reverse inscribed "Harriot (Plummer) Bartlett 1814-1901 Mother of Maj. Gen. Wm. F. Bartlett /F.B.M. 2. proper left profile view of a young man with dark brown hair, wearing a dark blue coat and white cravat. Label on reverse inscribed "Charles Leonard Bartlett (?) [1797 crossed out] Born Aug. 16, 1802 Father Maj. Gen. Wm. F. Bartlett /F.B.M 3. proper left profile view of an older man with grey hair wearing a dark blue coat and white cravat. Label on reverse inscribed "Wm. Greenleaf 1725-1800 Capt. in Revolution also officer of Mass. Colonial Militia. See comissions dated 1762 and 1765 /F.B. M. 4. proper right profile view of a woman wearing a dark blue dress, white ruffled collar, and a white bonnet. Label on reverse inscribed Harriot (Plummer) Bartlett 1814-1901 Mother Maj. Gen. Wm. F. Bartlett of Massachusetts /F.B.M 5. Proper left profile view of a man with dark brown hair combed forward, wearing a blue coat and white cravat. Label on reverse inscribed Hiram Plummer 1787-1863-4
Label Text:
Bowdoin College Museum of Art Rufus Porter’s Curious World: Art and Invention in America, 1815–1860
December 12, 2019–May 31, 2020, label text: This family group dates to Porter’s 1821 stay at Brown’s Tavern in Haverhill, Massachusetts, a thriving manufacturing town 24 miles from Billerica. Porter’s newspaper advertisement is reproduced nearby. Brown’s was an important transportation hub and Hiram Plummer, depicted on the far right, managed its connecting stage lines. He is believed to have commissioned Porter with the five portraits for which Porter charged two dollars each. Plummer’s wife, Eliza Greenleaf Plummer, is seen on the far left, with William Greenleaf, her father, at the center. The other two sitters are thought to be Eliza’s younger siblings, Samuel and Sophia Greenleaf. By this time, Porter effectively modulated light and shadow, evidenced by his handling of the white beads of Eliza’s necklace.
Building a Collection, September 27, 2025-February 23, 2025: As one component of his multifaceted career, Rufus Porter completed a large number of portraiture miniatures, beginning roughly in about 1815 and continuing up to the advent of photography. Several sitters in this recent donation of over 20 portrait miniatures from Juliene and Carl M. Lindberg include identifiable New Englanders, including the Plummer family of Haverhill, MA, the Flagg family of Andover, MA, and the Gages of Merrimack, NH, and Lawrence, MA. As an itinerant artist traveling across New England, Porter offered profile and miniature portraits of sitters. Compared to ivory portrait miniatures, these works utilize the inexpensive materials of paper and watercolor. Portrait miniatures in early America were readily available to middle class clients, and Porter’s work fit the market for rising middle-class New Englanders seeking likenesses. He would often advertise in local newspapers and note the length of his stay in the respective town. Porter’s attention to minute details in his portraits include the depiction of individual eyelashes and hairs. With an interest in science and technology, he likely used mechanical devices to aid in the creation of his portraits, such as a camera obscura to trace the profile of his sitter and rapidly produce silhouettes.
Tags:
portraits; families Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2023.8.17 |
