American School Oil (ca. 1830), Possibly Rutherford B. Hayes

An American school oil on canvas depicting four children in a landscape alongside a hound and a deer with a laurel around its neck. The painting dates circa 1830, based on the Romantic influence and the children's dress and hairstyles. Housed in a beautiful gilt frame with molded tulips. The canvas measures 56" x 56", and the frame measures 64" x 64".

The subjects of the painting are said to be a young Rutherford B. Hayes (top left) and his siblings Fanny (top right), Lorenzo (bottom left), and Sarah Sophia (bottom right). Lorenzo died at age 9, falling through ice while skating on a frozen pond, and Sarah Sophia died at age 4. Though these children did not all live concurrently (Sarah Sophia died before Rutherford's birth) it was common during that period to commission family portraits to commemorate a child who has died. It is plausible that the painting could have been commissioned in the few years following Lorenzo's death.

64 x 64 x 3 in
Condition Report: The painting has been professionally cleaned, re-lined, and restored with selective in-painting and re-touching. The condition is good and stable.