The Donald F. Moylan, M.D. Collection of American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts, Part II

Sale 1313

Live

| Cincinnati

Mar 14 | 10:00 AM EDT

Live

| Cincinnati

Lot 97

H. G. Fetter (American/Boston, active Mid-19th Century)

H. G. Fetter (American/Boston, active Mid-19th Century)

Portrait of a Gentleman, Possibly Thaddeus Mason Harris
pastel on paper
signed and dated Copy by H.G. Fetter 1848, lower right
inscribed Thaddeus Mason Harris / Painted by Mr. Fetter from a / Daguerreotype
7 1/2 x 6 inches.

Thaddeus Mason Harris (1768-1842) was a Harvard librarian, Unitarian minister, and author in Boston, Massachusetts. Harris married Mary Dix (1776-1852) in 1795, and they had eight children, including Thaddeus William Harris (1795-1856), a physician and naturalist who also served as librarian at Harvard from 1831 until his death, during which he developed their university's library system. The artist, H. G. Fetter, is recorded as a daguerreotypist active in Pennsylvania during the early 1850s.

The daguerreotype process was pioneered in 1839 and became widely used in the 1840s and 1850s, a timeline slightly at odds with the age of the man depicted here. If this drawing was executed after a daguerreotype portrait, it is more likely that the sitter is the younger Thaddeus Harris.

It is very rare to find a documented portrait based on a known daguerreotype of the sitter.

Framed: 10 x 8 1/2 inches.

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Ben Fisher

Managing Director, Furniture and Decorative Arts

benfisher@freemansauction.com 312.447.3270

Mr. Fisher rejoined the firm in 2019 after working as a specialist in the American Furniture and Folk Art department at Sotheby’s New York. His areas of expertise include 18th, 19th, and 20th century American, Continental, and English furniture, decorative and folk art. Before coming to Hindman in 2013, Mr. Fisher worked in European Furniture and Decorative Arts in Philadelphia. He began his career working for a prints dealer focusing on works from the 16th through the 20th centuries.

Leah Vogelpohl

AVP, Specialist, American Furniture, Folk, and Decorative Arts

leahvogelpohl@hindmanauctions.com 513.666.4960

Ms. Vogelpohl joined the firm in 2013 as a cataloger in the American and European Furniture and Decorative Arts department. She became a department specialist in 2017, focusing on American decorative arts and silver. She received a BA from the College of Charleston and an MLITT in Art History from the University of Glasgow.

The Donald F. Moylan, M.D. Collection of American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts, Part II

H. G. Fetter (American/Boston, active Mid-19th Century)

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