Lot 9: FRANCIS GUY (1760-1820)Brooklyn in Winteroil on canvas38 1/2 x 48 3/4 in.

(98 x 124 cm.)PROVENANCEThe Rogers Family, New YorkAbraham and Sarah Post, Long IslandVictor Spark, New YorkJoseph Katz, BaltimoreLITERATURES. T. Colwill, Francis Guy: 1760-1820, Baltimore, 1981, p. 71, no. 25, illus.Francis Guy was born in England and at an early age developed a taste for art. However, with an eye toward practicality, his early career abroad was devoted to tailoring and fabric glazing. In fact, he developed such a fine reputation that he was appointed dyer and calender to the Queen. Financial difficulties eventually forced Guy to relocate, and he emigrated to New York in 1795. He settled in Brooklyn where he attempted to take up the silk dyeing trade, but again because of lack of funds, he moved to Baltimore where he engaged in various vocations including that of dentist, minister, furniture decorator of Finlay furniture, and landscape painter. Many tradesmen of the period were likewise entrepreneurial, and Guy was more creative than most. As an artist, he developed a picturesque style which he portrayed in numerous views of Baltimore. Documents of the City's architecture, they are obviously an extension of his interest in the decorative arts.For whatever reason, Guy returned to Brooklyn circa 1817 and soon thereafter painted one of his most important works, Brooklyn Snow Piece (1818) now in the collection of The Brooklyn Museum. One of the monumental works of nineteenth-century painting and representative of his mature style, this painting captures urban life of the period as well as various landmarks in Brooklyn. Guy painted three other versions of this scene; one with figures, which is now in the Brooklyn Club; two without figures, this example and one in the collection of the New York Public Library.