Harvey, George - portrait of a man named "E B"

The artist and sitter for this miniature are unknown. However, the reverse of the case is engraved with the initials "E B" in script. The miniature did come from Dedham MA and so is likely to be by a Boston artist. The clothing suggests a miniature painted between 1825 and 1830.

With quite some hesitation, the miniature has been attributed to George Harvey (1800-1878) who painted many hundreds of miniatures in Boston between 1827 and 1845. However, Harvey usually signed his work, whereas this is unsigned.

It ought to be possible to more confidently attribute this miniature to an artist, as the case is distinctly American and the artist demonstrates considerable skill.

Other artists have been considered. One is Thomas Edwards, but his miniatures do not seem to display the distinct blue tones on his subject's faces, as shown here.

It is hoped followers of Eliza and Sarah Goodridge will forgive a comment, that the quality of this miniature is really too good to be by them, as their work tends to be a little folksy by comparison.

Similarly, the quality is too good and the date too early to be a work by Moses Russell. Henry Williams is another possible attribution, but again the artist's skill in painting this miniature appears to be better than most miniatures painted by Henry Williams. 666a