JOHN JAMES TRUMBULL ARNOLD
The Girl in Blue with Rose
Maryland, 1849.   

 Oil on canvas. In graphite script on the reverse: "Drawn by J. J. T. Arnold, Cumberland, MD. March the 15th 1849”.

The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum lists John James Trumbull Arnold (1812-1865) as an itinerant artist and ‘Professor of Penmanship and Portrait and Miniatures Painter’, working in Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and Virginia, and "Probably works executed in western Maryland will eventually be found." …..This is such a portrait. And in an unusually small size for this artist.

The COMPOSITION IS DELIGHTFUL: The charming, relaxed sitter is shown three-quarter length, seated in a red painted fancy chair, her left hand lightly resting on its top rail, fingers elegantly elongated. She wears a beautiful flowing rich indigo-blue dress with lace collar, accentuated by her tiny waist, fitted bodice, ribbons, and the folds rendered with linear highlights. Subtle touches include a small red flower tucked behind her ear, her hair in ringlets, and a rose held at her fingertips. The background is a soft neutral oval reserve-within a darker field-that direct the viewer inward. Excellent condition with minor touchup. The surface displays an age-appropriate craquelure that does not impair the clarity of the image.

Presented in a perfectly complementary period gilt frame. Frame size about 14 ½ inches x 12 ½.

Reference: AMERICAN FOLK PORTRAITS FROM THE ABBY ALDRICH ROCKEFELLER FOLK ART CENTER: multiple paintings by Arnold illustrated and discussed.

From a superb private Northeast collection.