Jane Anthony Davis (1821 - 1855)

Don Walters, Northampton, Massachusetts;

Phil Clark Collection;

Walters-Benisek Art & Antiques, Northampton, Massachusetts sold at The Philadelphia Antiques Show, 1997.

Remi Spriggs, “Living with antiques: An Americana collection in New Jersey,” Magazine Antiques (April 2005), 94-105;

Leslie and Peter Warwick, Love At First Sight: Discovering Stories About Folk Art & Antiques Collected by Two Generations & Three Families, (New Jersey: 2022), p. 226, fig. 395.

J. A. Davis (Jane Anthony Davis) (1821-1855) was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, and attended Warren, Rhode Island Ladies Seminary in 1838, where she may have studied drawing and painting. She married Edward N. Davis in 1840 in Norwich, Connecticut later moved to Providence after having her second child in 1847. She painted over 200 portraits between 1838 and 1854 and died of tuberculosis at the age of 33.

The portrait of the lady holding a small bouquet of flowers and wears a blue dress with mutton sleeves. is one of Jane A. Davis’ earliest paintings, due to the style of dress. Like most Jane A. Davis’ ladies, she has an hourglass figure and the gentleman wears a tonal matching vest with blue leaves and dark blue jacket.