Attributed to Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans

Attributed to Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French/Louisiana, 1801-1888), "Thomas Benjamin Helm (1830-1880)", oil on canvas, unsigned, inscribed on stretcher, 36 in. x 29 in., framed. Note: Thomas Benjamin Helm was born in Mississippi in 1830 to William Meredith Helm (1802-1866) and Sarah M. Kitchens (1805-1892). After a brief stint in Princeton, New Jersey around 1850, Helm later established himself as a prosperous sugar planter with substantial lands and property near Bayou Boeuf in Cheneyville, Rapides Parish, Louisiana. He was married to Jane Wells Tanner (c. 1834-1870) from c. 1853 until her death in 1870. Jane was a member of a so-called pioneer family of Rapides Parish and daughter of Branch Tanner. Once a widower, Helm married Elizabeth Pomroy Wilson (1855-1883), also from Louisiana. Helm had four children, and he was one of the first wardens of Trinity Church in Cheneyville, along with his first father-in-law Branch Tanner. Trinity Church was officially organized as a parish on April 25, 1859. In the portrait on offer here, Helm is depicted in aristocratic dress seated and holding a cane and wearing a gold watch fob, shirt stud and ruby ring. His satin waistcoat and velvet collar present the sumptuous fabrics that Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans often portrayed so dexterously in his portraits. This work was likely done while Amans was traveling throughout Louisiana painting the portraits of wealthy landowners.
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