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Child of the Hillhouse Family, by John Carlin, Circa 1840
A delightful American miniature of a child of the Hillhouse family, with blue eyes and blond hair, wearing a dress with a black velvet bodice and gray skirt, the collar and sleeves trimmed with white lace. The painting is set behind a gilt mat and glass in a brown leather travel wallet.
The portrait came from a relative of the Hillhouse family of New Haven, Connecticut, a prominent family in the area for several centuries. The family included Senator James Hillhouse, who also served as treasurer of Yale University, and as a real estate developer, was responsible for the design of New Haven. Hillhouse Avenue and James Hillhouse High School were named for James Hillhouse. His son James Abraham Hillhouse, a published poet, created the place and the poem "Sachem's Wood," and was one of the earliest Americans to attempt poetic drama in the manner of Shelley and Byron.
John Carlin (1813-1891), an exceptional miniaturist, as well as a portrait, genre, and landscape painter, was born deaf-mute in Philadelphia. He studied from 1821 to 1825 at the Pennsylvania Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, and then studied drawing with John Rubens Smith, and portrait painting with John Neagle. He exhibited at the Artist's Fund Society from 1835 to 1838. He subsequently spent the next few years studying at the British Museum in London, and with Paul Delaroche in Paris. Upon his return he settled in New York City, with professional forays in the years 1841 to 1856, to Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York State, Massachusetts, Washington D.C. and Baltimore. He became a well-known society miniaturist, particularly noted for his sensitivity in depicting children.
Carlin exhibited at the National Academy of Design, the American Institute, the American Art-Union, the Maryland Historical Society and the Pennsylvania Academy. The New York Historical Society holds his account book. Carlin was also a published writer, best known for the children's book, The Scratchside Family, (NY 1861), and his poem "The Mute's Lament," which begins, "I move a silent exile on this earth." He was friends with William Cullen Bryant, Hamilton Fish, and William Henry Seward, and was often invited to appear at conferences for deaf people, becoming the first person to receive a honorary degree from Gallaudet University. He married Miss Seward, also deaf, from the family of William Henry Seward, Secretary to Abraham Lincoln, and raised five children. His works may be seen at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Dimensions: 2 ¼ x 1 ¾ inches; case: 4 x 3 ½ inches
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