Original nineteenth-century painting of shopkeepers at work
No place: no publisher, nineteenth century. Gouache painting, measuring 3.75 x 6.25 inches, mounted to a grey backing sheet, in an old mahogany frame measuring 6.75 x 9.5 inches. Later pencil inscription to verso of painting: “Handelskontor 1820.” Backed in the frame by a cabinet card of a young boy taken in Hartford, Connecticut, at the turn of the twentieth century. Pencil note “painting / dated 1820”on back of frame (though the painting itself is likely later).
Detailed original painting of two shopkeepers, likely husband and wife, doing the accounts for their business as the sun sets. The pair sit at a double-sided writing desk, in intent conversation over the day's papers. A bookcase of ledgers stands to their left. A panel to the right depicts a storeroom stacked full of neatly shelved merchandise, with barrels and crates on the floor. A strikingly intimate glimpse of trade in the early nineteenth century.
Price: $600.00