New Web objects Portrait

William Matthew Prior

Date: 1848

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1992.122

Text Entries: William Matthew Prior, artist and entrepreneur from Bath, Maine, intentionally painted in a flattened style. He advertised in the 1831 Maine Inquirer: "Persons wishing for a flat picture can have a likeness without shade or shadow at one quarter price." Noted for his versatility of style, Prior succeeded in obtaining numerous commissions for flat pictures due to their affordability and quick execution. Mary Cary and Susan Elizabeth Johnson from Provincetown, Massachusetts are painted in Prior's "flat" style. Broad, confident brushwork, lively surface pattern of the dresses as well as the encircling position of the girls' arms reveal his expert understanding of paint, design and composition. In addition to capturing the physical resemblance of the two girls, Prior used conventions to suggest a close familial relationship, such as the shared book, matching costumes and their proximity to one another.

William Matthew Prior

Date: by 1856

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1992.123

Text Entries: Brothers-in-law and portrait painters, William Matthew Prior and Sturtevant J. Hamblin lived together with their families in Boston by 1841. Many portraits have been attributed to both artists because they worked in a generally similar style and in close association in their shared workshop. Artists depicted toys to distinguish the gender of the child since boys and girls often wore the same style of clothes. Usually toys included in portraits of boys were associated with the world of adult males, for example, whips, wagons, or bow and arrows as shown in this portrait. Popularity of manufactured and handmade toys increased in the mid-nineteenth century reflecting the acceptance of child's play-previously considered idle activity.