Lot 385: RALPH E. W. EARL (1785-1838), DATED 1804

A Pair of Double Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel (Martha) Ruggles
Each signed and dated 'R. Earl Pinxt, 1804' (reverse of canvas)
oil on canvas
50 3/4 x 41 1/4 inches each (2)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, January 4 - February 20, 1977
Utica, New York, The Munson-Williams Proctor Institute, April 3 - May 29, 1977
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, The Milwaukee Art Center, July 25 - August 29, 1976
Buffalo, New York, The Albright-Knox Gallery, January 17 - February 22, 1976
Storrs, Connecticut, The William-Benton Museum, Summer 1980

Tillou, Peter H., Where Liberty Dwells: 19th-Century Art by the American People, Exhibition Catalogue (1976), Figs. 2,3.

Descending in the family of the sitters
American Folk Art Collection of Peter Tillou, Litchfield, CT
Sotheby's New York, October 26, 1985, lot 22.

Ralph Eleazer Whiteside Earl was born in either 1785 or 1788 to Ralph and Ann Earl, in New York. He trained with his father beginning in 1799, and often collaborated with his father until his father's death in 1801. He painted portraits in the Connecticut River Valley and in Troy New York until 1809, when he left for Europe. His style closely resembles that of his father.

This pair of portraits may depict Nathaniel Ruggles (1742-?) of Roxbury, Massachusetts, who married Martha Williams (1746-1829) in 1778, also of Roxbury.