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Portraits of Andrew, Daniel, and Mehitable Wentworth
1833
Joseph H. Davis (1811-1865)
USA: Maine, Berwick
Watercolor, pencil, pen, and ink on paper
overall: 9"h x 12-1/8"w
Special Acquisitions Fund
90.32

Portrait of Andrew, Daniel, and Mehitable Wentworth; seated profiles of man and woman with baby in lap sitting at table and on sabre-legged chairs painted with brown graining; painted carpet on floor with five floral yellow and blue medallions; inscribed in ornamental calligraphy by the artist along the bottom, reads "aged 30. 1833 Andrew Wentworth. Daniel G. Wentworth aged 3 months, 1833. Mehitable Wentworth. aged 26, 1832"; man holds Masonic symbols of a scroll, gauge, and compasses; "HOLY BIBLE" open on table.


New England artist Joseph H. Davis specialized in images that combined profile portraits with the kind of information found on family records. This example depicts a husband and wife with their young son, Daniel. While Mehitable Wentworth (1806–1834) holds her new baby, her husband Andrew (1803–1880) holds objects associated with Freemasonry in his hands: a membership certificate and a square and compasses. The tools may have held a double meaning for Andrew—later census records list his occupation as “Mason.” Soon after Davis created this work, it served as a memorial: Mehitable Gordon Wentworth died in 1834.