This amazing theorem painting is impossible to photograph due to the thick glass, but it is really fantastic and I've tired! (The second photo, shot at an angle, is the closest color wise.) It is quite an early one, c. 1810-20s or so I believe, and quite a different beast than the theorem still lives of fruits and flowers that were much more common! This tiger in his domain is a much rarer subject, and its treatment looks to me to include freehand painting, including use of stippling in several areas. Theorem painting, made through cutting and overlaying stencils to paint on velvet, came into vogue around 1800, first in England and then New England, where is was taught to women in academies and boarding schools. I don't know who made this one, which was found in Massachusetts, but I do believe they made quite a wonderful painting!
22" x 20 1/8" framed. Sight: 18 1/4" x 16 1/8". Sold in the antique frame that I found it in, which is in good shape and looks to have had a new backing added not too long ago. There are a few old repairs to the right side, which I have tried to document and which appear to have been carefully done; they are subtly visible, but not detracting, and I think just add to the paintings sense of age and aura and attest to its having been valued. I've shot it a few different ways--the views from an angle are more accurate. Note that there is lots of glare captured in photos. There is a shadow over the upper right corner of the frame, not a flaw.
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