Exquisite J.M. Crowley Miniature Graphite Portraits

Circa 1837: Housed in period (and possibly original) 7"H x 5"W frames with square nail construction, these highly detailed and skillfully rendered signed "J.M. Crowley Delineator, Rome" and dated March 16 and 17, 1837, graphite on paper miniature portraits feature identified sitters Eliza A. (Jefferson) Bradt (1809-1888) and husband blacksmith John B. Bradt (1806-1882), both buried the Rome Cemetery in Rome, New York. Although not much is known about Crowley, not even his first and middle names, a Crowley portrait of the Paine family is featured and discussed in Expressions of Innocence and Eloquence: Selections from the Jane Katcher Collection of Americana edited by Jane Katcher, David A. Schorsch, and Ruth Wolfe, and the editors note on page 322 that Crowley "is known to have worked in New York State, New York City, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire" and that his pieces reside "in the Karolik collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Historic Deerfield, Old Sturbridge Village, and private collections." These drawings of an upstate New York working class couple by a celebrated itinerant delineator, to use Crowley's own term, are examples of early American folk art at its finest.