Tag Archives: rare portrait

The Enduring Legacy and Likeness of George Washington and President’s Day

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George Washington is one of the most recognizable figures in American history. Revered as the father of our country, America’s first Commander in Chief led the struggle for independence and served as the nation’s first president. His legacy remains a vivid part of our daily lives. There are countless counties across the United States named in his honor, a state, and the nation’s capital. We see his image nearly every day on the quarter and one dollar bill, and around the President’s Day holiday in February through a dazzling array of television and print advertisements for automobiles, furniture, and a vast sea of consumer goods specially priced in celebration of the holiday.… Read More

A Rare Dutch Colonial Portrait Survives from the Early 18th Century

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The Portrait of Elizabeth Van Dyck Vosburg is one of the ultimate rarities: a unique and early example of American naïve painting from the early 18th century. This oil-on-canvas work was painted by an artist widely known as The Gansevoort Limner, who some scholars believe was a Dutch-born immigrant named Pieter Vanderlyn. Whatever the case, this artist was prolific in the period from about 1730-45 in the area that would become New York State.

Enough is known about the provenance of this particular painting that it is identified as showing Elizabeth Van Dyck at the time of her marriage to Martin Vosburg in 1725. That date certainly makes it one of the earliest known works by the artist, and one of the earliest attributed American paintings of any kind still in private hands.