Portrait. American Folk art. Little boy wearing blue dress, white pantaloons and black shoes holding a watch on a long chain up to his proper right ear; dog behind boy on his proper right side and pot of flowers on his proper left side.

Portrait of a Young Boy, c. 1835

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This portrait of an unidentified little boy wearing appropriate dress for the 1830s, including pantaloons and black slippes, incorporates many of the attributes associated with the Boston portrait painter, Samuel Miller. Of the twenty or more portraits ascribed to Miller, the majority are full-length portraits of children who are portrayed frontally in a stiff, flatly delineated fashion. Miller enhanced his compositions through the use of bold colors, and engaging ambient details, such as family pets and pots of flowers, all of which are present in our painting. The fact that the little boy is listening to his father's gold pocket watch from which a gold chain with watch fob in the form of a pistol is suspended may suggest that it is a posthumous portrait, as his time has run out - tempus fugit.

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Miller, Young Boy (#662)
Details
Title
Portrait of a Young Boy
Artist Life
1807 - 1853
Role
Artist
Accession Number
98.239
Provenance
Horace Brown, Springfield, Vermont, c. 1920-1930.[1] Arnold Whitcomb Morse, Thetford Center, Vermont; gift to MIA in 1998. [1] This reference was supplied by Arnold Morse, the donor in a letter of July 31, 1998: "[the painting]...was part of a small collection accumulated by Horace Brown of Springfield, Vermont in the 1920s and 1930s." Further documentation is provided by a sticker on the verso of the painting which reads [BROWN].
Curator Approved

This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.

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Portrait. American Folk art. Little boy wearing blue dress, white pantaloons and black shoes holding a watch on a long chain up to his proper right ear; dog behind boy on his proper right side and pot of flowers on his proper left side.