Self-Portrait (John James Trumbull Arnold)

Date1841

Artist John James Trumbull Arnold (1812 - ca. 1865)

OriginAmerica, Maryland or Pennsylvania or Virginia (probably)

MediumWatercolor, pencil and ink on wove paper.

DimensionsPrimary support: 9 7/8" x 7 7/8" and Framed: 12 3/8" X 10 1/4"

Credit LineAcquisition funded by The Antique Collectors' Guild

Object number1977.300.4

DescriptionHalf-length full-face portrait of a man combined with an elaborate calligraphic framework to form an advertisement/self portrait of an artist. The figure is wearing a black coat shaded with gloss black; white shirt and collar with black tie and stock. His coat has wide lapels and a narrow sleeve at the wrist with a flaring cuff. He has dark brown/black hair and blue eyes. His face is shaded with a very fine stippled technique which shows most prominently at the chin. His right arm appears to rest on a brown table top which does not show fully in the picture plane and his arm is bent with his hand raised to his face with his middle finger gently touching his face; the thumb and index fingers of this hand hold a quill pen. This portrait is within an oval within a rectangular framing element; the spandrels contain red roses with blue leaves with brown veining. This rectangle has a double brown ink pinstripe around it. Brown ink lines radiate from the upper half of this framing element creating an aura around the portrait. At the top are elaborate Gothic style initials ("J.J.T.") and the name "ARNOLD" from both of which flow elaborate cursive pen strokes. To the left and right of the portrait at mid level calligraphic style eagles are drawn in brown ink grasping arrows and green fronds in their talons. The remaining inscription noted in the signature notes above is given below the portrait element and is surrounded by stylozed foliate devices and flowing cursive pen strokes; the inscription and these devices frame and appear to support the lower half of the portrait and its flanking eagles noted above.
Label TextThe likelihood that this self-portrait doubled as an advertisement is supported by the existence of a second, quite similar example. Both proclaim John James Trumbull Arnold to have been a "professor of penmanship." Today, he is best known for full-scale oil portraits. No other miniatures have been noted, and no information about Arnold's work as a writing and calligraphy teacher has been found. Only the decorative, variously styled letters and the flourishes on his two self-portraits attest to the artist's mastery of the pen.

Shaded hatching radiates from the upper half of the portrait to create an impressive, dramatic setting for the half-length figure. The subject's quill pen strikes a note of quaintness, since steel pens were in common use by 1841. Flanking eagles add a patriotic touch.

InscribedOn the recto, above the likeness, handwritten in two types of ornate printing in brown ink, is "J.J.T./ARNOLD," and below the image, handwritten in script in brown ink is "Professor of Penmanship/Portrait and Minia- ture Painter &c,&c./September/1841." No watermark.
ProvenancePreviously in Garbisch Collection; purchased from Edward Stvan with funds contributed by Antique Collectors' Guild.