Pair of Antique Portrait Paintings by Boston's John Johnston Revolutionary War

Description: Last pair of Companion paintings sold for 17,000! THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN PORTRAITS EVER ! Filled with history! John Johnston the painter ( 1751-1818 ) was a patriot and fought in the American Revolution and held prisoner by the British. Johnston was Born in Boston and when he was released by the British he painted in Boston just prior to Gilbert Stuart. He studied under his father as a pattern maker but evolved into portrait painting. He painted George Washington and Samuel Adams. The painting is signed by Johnston !!!!!!!!! Oil on panel and they have been cleaned and varnished with removable archival varnish. They look AMAZING! The sitters were very wealthy Merchants named John Davis Williams ( 1770-1848 ) and Hannah Weld Williams ( 1775-1824 ). They became one of Boston's first millionaires. Believed to be in the original giltwood frames! Frames have losses on them as they are over 209 years old. I can only imagine these sitting in the high society home back then with parties of the time looking at them on the wall. Maybe Samuel Adams and George Washington gazed upon them as well. H x 24.25 in W, actual; 36 in H x 31 in W, framed; Hannah: 30 in H x 24 in W, actual; 36 in H x 31 in W, framedIncludes a black and white cabinet style card of each portrait, and a black and white photograph of each, as well as family genealogy.These should be sitting in a Boston Museum right now! Age appropriate for condition but WOW! John Davis Williams (1770-1848) Williams was a prominent wine and liquor merchant living on Washington Street in Boston’s South End. He was one of the early purchasers of land on the Boston Neck when it was first developed in the first two decades after the Revolution. His relative Jeremiah Williams conveyed the property to him, one of the original proprietors of “the 1400 foot lots” at the North end of Boston Neck. A rare early photograph of 1423 Washington Street, the main North-South artery descending Boston Neck at the intersection of Malden Street, depicts his large and impressive three-story Federal style house with cupola. This was near the southern limit of the “1400 foot lots.” His main store, which he operated in partnership for many years with his brother Moses Williams, was directly opposite his house on Washington. His brother-in-law Daniel Weld’s house was located next door. Williams was married to Weld’s sister Hannah.1 Williams’s house was long a landmark in the area because it was always painted green. An 1855 history of the Boston Neck by “Gleaner,” described Williams “whose well known partiality for a particular color is still perpetuated in his green house and green store.” The author also noted that “Beyond these lots [to the South] on the city lands, there stood year after year, only the gallows – that landmark of civilization– the traveller’s guidepost at the entrance of a great metropolis!” This was the spot for public executions for the meanest criminals. “Gleaner” was a pseudonym of Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch, an early insurance actuary, “property conveyancer” and dedicated researcher of deed histories of Boston properties.2 His assembled research and hundreds of property histories and plot maps including that of Williams are at Massachusetts Historical Society.3 At the height of his commercial success in the 1840’s, Williams was listed in one contemporary source as the seventh-highest taxpayer in Boston. He was one of Boston’s early true millionaires and in heady company with Boston’s leading textile manufacturers, merchants and real estate developers. His probate inventory detailed mostly commercial Boston real estate holdings worth $920,654, and personal property valued at $316.211.07, Portrait of John Davis Williams, ca. 1835-45 (SEHS Collections) He was one of Boston’s early true millionaires and in heady company with Boston’s leading textile manufacturers.including stocks, household furniture and receivable accounts. The enumeration of his entire estate extends to twenty-three pages. His Washington Street “Mansion House” was valued at $11,822. His brick store opposite his home on Washington Street, with two wooden stores and stables was appraised at $28,000. Furniture listed in the front room (parlor) of the first floor included “2 Mahogany pier tables, marble slabs [$] 50.00”. One of these is now at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, along with the original receipt to Davis from 1818 from Vose & Coates to Williams. The other table of the pair is in a private Massachusetts collection

Price: 6900 USD

Location: Nashua, New Hampshire

End Time: 2024-12-12T15:11:30.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD