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Half-length portrait of a man in a black coat and waistcoat, white shirt and black tie in its original frame and glass. Labeled on back.
portraits
paintings (visual works)
oil paint (paint)
boards (flat objects)
Painting
"Artful Stories": Portrait painter William Matthew Prior established an unusual business model. Instead of competing for the limited number of sitters who could afford a top-of-the-line portrait, he linked the style of a portrait to the sitters ability to pay. He produced fully realized portraits with shaping and shadow, a middling range with simpler lines, and at the lowest level, paintings he described as "flat." These could be completed in an hours sitting. This portrait of lumber merchant Josiah Burrage of Cambridge is an example of Prior's flat style.
"PORTRAITS/Painted in this style!/Done in about an hour's sitting./Price, $2.92, including frame, glass &c./Please call at 524 Cornhill/Boston Wm.M. Prior."
Burrage, Josiah
Prior, William Matthew, 1806-1873 (Artist)
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
22 1/4 x 18 (HxW) (inches)
Museum Purchase
1988.3
1846 (c.)
Cambridgeport (Middlesex county, Massachusetts)
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