Jacob Maentel (American 1763-1863), Portrait of a man

Jacob Maentel (American 1763-1863)Portrait of a man, small full-length, in profile, holding a top hatWatercolour 29.3 x 19cm (11½ x 7¼ in.)Pennsylvania, circa 1810.ProvenanceThe Bischoff CollectionThe Stewart E. Gregory CollectionDavid Wheatcroft, MassachusettsPurchased from the above by the present owner in 2007To be sold without reserveThe Pinkers Collection of British, American and European Folk Art This charming collection of folk art takes its name from a diminutive 17th Century cottage on the Kent coast where it has hung and grown in size over the last twenty years. It includes watercolours and oil paintings from the 17th to the early 20th Century. Many are in their original frames and in remarkably fresh condition. Despite its rural location and the provincial subject matter of the works it is a truly international collection and many of the lots have come from some of the most important collectors and dealers in folk art on both sides of the Atlantic including Robert Young, Denzil Grant and Charles Plante in England and David Wheatcroft, Joan Brownstein and Austin Miller in America.Folk Art has been described as 'the unselfconscious creativity of academically untrained artists' (Robert Young, Folk Art, 1999) and it is this quality that gives many of the works an immediacy and playfulness that has chimed with generations of collectors. Some of the pictures, by journeymen artists, artisans or amateurs are provincial reinterpretations of more sophisticated works, such as the early 18th Century Yate family portraits (lot 122). Others have a joyful disregard of accepted ideas of scale, perspective and colouring, giving them a timeless quality which draws parallels with 20th Century artists including Alfred Wallis and John Nash, such as View from La Moinerie (lot 120) and the American School Portrait of a girl (lot 103) has an Outsider Art quality reminiscent of the Art Brut movement founded by Jean Dubuffet. Regardless of their origins this unique and varied collection is the manifestation of the vision and passion of a true collector. Condition Report: There is discolouration and staining throughout the sheet. The framing edges of the sheet with some darker areas of staining caused by the framing mount. There are also a number of pronounced dark brown stains to the centre left and lower left of the sheet (visible in catalogue and online illustrations). It is not clear what has caused this. There are a number of small tears throughout the sheet including to the extreme right edge (two horizontal tears approx 4cm), the extreme upper edge (approx 1cm above the sitter's head) and the extreme lower left edge (approx 1.5cm). There are a number of small areas of skinning to the sheet throughout and a small area of loss is visible to the extreme lower right and upper left corners. There is very fine craquelure to the darker pigments, predominantly the sitter's clothes and hair. The colour is a little down and there is some evidence of water staining to the hills in the lower left corner. Light undulation to the sheet under the glazed frame. Unexamined out of glazed frame.Condition Report Disclaimer