Jacob F. Streeter (ca. 1789-?)

Date1827

Artist J. M. Crowley (active ca. 1820-1840)

MediumGraphite on wove paper

DimensionsPrimary Support: 4 5/8 x 3 3/8in. (11.7 x 8.6cm) and Framed: 5 1/2 x 4 1/2in. (14cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1979.200.4

DescriptionA half-length profile portrait of a seated man facing left. He has short, dark hair brushed up and back above his forehead. He wears a high, upturned collar, a buttoned waistcoat with a stand-up collar; and a waist-length coat with a high rolled collar and deeply-notched, overlapping lapel cuts. His trousers are not detailed but appear to have a pocket slit below the waistcoat. He leans his near arm over the back of the chair, which has a crest rolled back at the top with reeded decoration in the stile.

The 3/4- inch frame is stained wood with incised decoration on the half-round outer edge and a wire hanging ring at the top; it appears to be original.
Label TextThe portraits of Jacob F. Streeter and his wife, Lucy Lyons Streeter (acc. no. 1979.200.3), probably were painted in Colrain (Franklin County), Massachusetts (her birthplace), if the 1827 date on hers is correct, since the 1830 federal census shows the couple living there. By the time of the 1850 census, they had relocated to Cazenovia, New York, where Jacob listed his occupation as a carpenter.

Both portraits are signed "J, M, Crowley," as are over half of the thirty-plus recorded examples of the artist's work. Independent researchers have discovered considerable information about Crowley's life, but none of it has been published as of this cataloguing. Meanwhile, his sitters' residences provide some landmarks for his portrait-making itineraries through New England and New York state. Most of his likenesses are rendered solely in graphite. Many subjects sit in side chairs virtually identical to the Streeters', suggesting that the chair was an artist's prop or, perhaps, sketched repeatedly from memory.
InscribedSigned in graphite on the reverse of the unfolded primary support is "J, M, Crowley/ Del[ineato]r". The "r" is superscript.
ProvenanceOwnership prior to Walters (CW's source) is undocumented.