Portrait of Little Boy in Red Dress

William Matthew Prior (1806-1873)
Oil on canvas, 29.5 x 25.25 inches
Signed on reverse "East Boston, Trenton St. 3d Sec.. W.M. Prior, 1849, ..."

This delightful portrait of a little boy in red dress, pulling a wagon filled with baskets and a hammer and a cowrie seashell on the ground, is an important work by Prior. Its subject matter, of an adorable little boy in full-length pose with his favorite toys, typifies Prior's mastery at the height of his itinerant career. In addition, Prior's signature with date define the work as especially desirable, since these elements are not often encountered.

Provenance
"The Collection of Mr. And Mrs. Dennison H. Hatch," William Doyle Galleries, New York, November 1997
Susan and Raymond Egan Collection, Princeton

Reference
Paul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association (1987), pp. 133-41.

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