Early American Folk Portrait, Attributed to Ammi Phillips (c. 1830–1850)
Oil on canvas early American folk portrait attributed to Ammi Phillips (American, 1788–1865), a well-known itinerant portrait painter active in New York and New England during the first half of the 19th century. The painting depicts a young woman seated in a three-quarter pose, wearing a dark dress with a lace collar, rendered in the distinctive naïve style associated with Phillips, including flattened perspective, simplified facial features, and restrained but confident brushwork. The background is plain and dark, consistent with Phillips’ mature portrait style. The work appears to be an original 19th-century painting rather than a later reproduction. The canvas shows age-appropriate wear consistent with its period. No visible modern materials observed. Attribution is based on stylistic characteristics commonly associated with Ammi Phillips’ known works. The painting has been in private ownership and was inherited. No prior formal appraisal documentation is available.
Not framed, measurements are ~ 8.25” x 6.5”
Inherited
Yes
Hi Joe,
Thank you for contacting Mearto with your appraisal inquiry.
This is a small copy of "Girl in a Red Dress with Cat and Dog" by Ammi Phillips (1788-1865); the original was painted in oil on canvas between 1830 and 1835 and is currently in the collection of American Folk Art Museum in New York City. The museum's website and page for this painting notes "*Girl in Red Dress with Cat and Dog* was painted during the artist’s so-called Kent period, which lasted from about 1829 through 1838. It is one of several portraits of children wearing similar red dresses and seated with a small dog by their feet. One cannot regard the group without equating their geometric precision and luminosity of large fields of pure color with religious art of the Middle Ages. The symbolic association of rare and costly colors with specific religious figures, such as vermilion used for the robes worn by Mary, is also echoed in this portrait. A clue to Phillips’s professional longevity, even after the introduction of photography, may lie in his earliest known advertisement of 1810, wherein he promises to provide 'correct likenesses . . . in the prevailing fashion of the day,' a pledge he was to fulfill for more than fifty years."
The original painting is 30 by 25 inches; yours is a mid 20th Century small-scale canvas print, a technique that had roots in the 19th Century but which became practical and more broadly available in the early 20th Century. Artists and studios often applied varnish or brushwork to enhance the painterly illusion.
The dating to the 20th Century is also confirmed by the comparatively open weave of the canvas, which differs tremendously from more tightly woven cotton or linen canvas used by itinerant portrait painters in the early and mid 19th Century.
This painting is so iconic that there are numerous reproductions that have come to market, with recent ones of comparable size selling at auction between $100 and $150.
Based on the photos and information provided, and subject to examination, this is:
After Ammi Phillips
copy of "Girl in a Red Dress with Cat and Dog"
mid 20th Century
canvas print on loose-weave canvas
8-1/4 by 6-1/2 inches
CONDITION: Fair
PROVENANCE: Inherited
$ 100-150*
*represents a fair-market value for auction purposes; retail or asking price may vary.
Please let us know if you have additional items to appraise, or questions/concerns, and thank you again for using Mearto.
~ Delia
