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Lot 1191
Jacob Maentel (German-American, 1778-1863) Pair of portraits of a family
Withdrawn
Amended
26 October 2015, 10:00 EDT
New YorkUS$50,000 - US$80,000
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Jacob Maentel (German-American, 1778-1863)
Pair of portraits of a family
Depicting in one the father holding a hat, depicting in the other the mother and daughter.
watercolor on paper with white gouache highlights
sheets 14 1/2 x 10 1/2in (36.8 x 26.7)
Each framed in faux-grained frames.
Back of each inscribed in graphite 150; the back of the father inscribed in graphite 2 in 058-51 Veneer / # 210 in side.
Depicting in one the father holding a hat, depicting in the other the mother and daughter.
watercolor on paper with white gouache highlights
sheets 14 1/2 x 10 1/2in (36.8 x 26.7)
Each framed in faux-grained frames.
Back of each inscribed in graphite 150; the back of the father inscribed in graphite 2 in 058-51 Veneer / # 210 in side.
Footnotes
Provenance
Acquired in 1976 at an antique store outside of Winston-Salem, NC.
Jacob Maentel was born in Kassel, Germany and died in New Harmony, Indiana at the age of 100. Educated as a physician, he served under Napoleon but by 1810 had immigrated and was living in Pennsylvania. Working in south central Pennsylvania, in the counties surrounding Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he is known to have executed numerous profile portraits including double portraits of families, such as those offered here.
Maentel painted profile portraits - both half- and full-length poses - until the 1820s, when he turned more to frontal poses for his subjects. The stylized landscapes in which this family are depicted is typical and represents a stock composition he used, varied by including accessories such as animals, hats, umbrellas, flowers or books to personalize his portraits.
The identity of this family is unknown but this pair of portraits bears close parallels in size to that of the Joseph Gardner family, currently in the collection of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection and illustrated in Beatrix T. Rumford, et al, American Folk Portraits: paintings and drawings from the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, (Boston: New York Graphic Society), 1981, cat. nos. 108 and 109, pp. 139-141.
Saleroom notices
WITHDRAWN