I love this one so much, including for text handwritten on the other end of the folded page, which reads as follows: "Edwin Clark drew these to amuse Ella when a little girl and she finds them when she is 64 years old where she has carefully preserved them in hers and Sophy's desk and looked them over when resting and enjoying her garden. July 20, 1918, 8:30 pm." There is a second one from the same lot I'm listing separately dated 1865, and this one, given Ella's note, was certainly done about the same time. I love every packed inch of it, including the equal weight given to most everything (though the church looms large!), from the mantle clock to hanging portrait, to the birds atop trees to the waving girl, to the harps and horse and heart with head inside. Perhaps best of all, the two branching trees at bottom left with faces facing! To my eye just completely charming, and I'd say Edwin Clark was a charmer, too!
Graphite on watermarked Windsor lined laid paper. Overall paper size: 11 7/8" x 7 7/8". Area of drawings: 6 1/8" x 7 7/8". Very good condition, clear and crisp with very minimal toning. Vertical fold lines as evident.
*The date and location of Ogdensburg, NY on the other drawing led me to find the Clark mansion there, and learn that Edwin Clark (1800-1869) was a businessman and developer, who in addition to owning the mansion, owned offices, stores and a number of other lots in the city. His daughter, Ella Clark, who wrote the note on the other drawing, died in the home in 1923.
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