Show I I r i. i 1 Ti Time For r crt or j c Class By Dy CHICO omco STATE COLLEGE H I H- H HW W ARE LIMNERS EXTINCT To all gentlemen and others portrait others portrait painting and Engraving Heraldry and painting house-painting will be undertaken and performed by me at lowest rates rates' Thus advertised one ono B. B Roberts of Charleston In the South Carolina Gazette of or May 1735 And no doubt Mr Roberts Roberts' announcement announcement announcement an an- bi ought brought to his studio a a. steady flow blow of ot customers for tor here was the colonial counterpart of or our out modern r portrait photographer iv i The Tho history of ot American art art t t of episodes both legendary and und factual tactual to stir the Imagination Certainly none nono of these stories is js s mote mOle typically American American American Ameri Ameri- can 11 In spirit than the account of the colonial limners This was the name given a 1 group of eighteen century Ameri Amen American American can artists artiste dealing in commercial portraiture portraiture por por- and these men have become to art historians our American primitives primitive Methods and techniques may have have- changed chanced but the commodity remains People have always delighted in pictures of themselves and their loved ones 50 no O OIt it was only natural tho the colonial limner should have been Commercially success success- ful tul Financial success was usually his for tor a variety of reasons especially his versatility painter versatility-portrait-painter portrait painter or house house- painter as you might wish wish and and his enterprising nature lie He wad was ingenious to sap Baythe the least When it was Wad impossible for clients to come to his studio our colonial limner would take his wares and travel from tram house to house ho and from tram town to town Traveling by means of a a- horse-drawn horse vehicle the arrive in town with a stock of portraits both masculine masculine masculine line and feminine In which everything everything everything every every- thing had been included but the faces Upon such a dummy the the- head of at a a. subject could be painted the whole operation requiring no more than one sitting Very rarely did the sitter flitter pose for tor his body Instead one might choose from a 1 variety of poses and costumes and have the tho picture completed with hisor his hisor hisor or her own likeness It ones one's taste ran to laco taco collars ruffles rut rut- fles flee and other symbols of dignity the limner was was' well supplied with such trappings It was a simple matter to ones one's vanity or social ambitions with such portraits The Impression of at social position and wealth was frequently given by the painter to subjects who were very humble people barely able to toI pay the usual price of from twenty five to fifty dollars for tor this service People were no different in those days from people of our own time who either in photograph or painting Insist on being made to appear as as Important and as attractive as the the truth will possibly per per- mit This the painter knew and ho prepared accordingly In winter time when travel was difficult he put in a a. supply of stock portraits In summer ho ha took to the road with his wares and reaped a rich harvest Colonial America supported many 1 Itinerant ran t type M a a number of whom became in spite of their seasonal ravings with in which they enjoyed a re reputation reputation reputation re- re not anI only as artists but as all talented contributors to other cultural and social activities vi ties PROFESSOR JOHN JOAN AYRES Art IB lB Art IUs History tory I Chico State College California |