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William Jennys American, 1774-1859 Portrait of a Gentleman and Portrait of a Lady: Two Oil on canvas 24 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches Despite the large number of portraits that he painted, William Jennys remains a somewhat elusive figure in the history of American art. His period of greatest artistic activity spans the years 1793-1809, although he is known to have lived until 1859. An itinerant artist taught by his father, Richard Jennys, he worked throughout New England, taking commissions in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. His most productive period appears to have been the five years he spent in Newburyport, Massachusetts, which he left in 1809 for Littleton, New Hampshire, where he lived for the remainder of his life. The present works are entirely consistent with his documented portraits. The costumes - the muslin neckcloth on the man, his unpowdered, cropped hair, even the cut of his coat - support a date of execution of around 1800 or very shortly thereafter. The woman's roundgown - with the high gathered waist, simple long sleeves, and round neckline filled in with a fichu - also dates from the same period, as does her conservative lace cap. Jennys was a prolific painter who worked rapidly, with inexpensive materials. He was known to complete two portraits a day, broadly brushing in the backgrounds and applying his paint in thin layers, as in the present works; he typically avoided painting hands and arms. Also characteristic is the careful, almost sculptural, delineation of the contours of his subjects' faces. Sober village merchants, sea captains, and their wives sat for Jennys, who depicted them honestly and without artifice.