Early 19th Century Portrait of the Marsh Family Twins, by Thomas Arrowsmith, circa 1830

Early 19th Century Portrait of the Marsh Family Twins, by Thomas Arrowsmith (English: 1772 – 1834), circa 1830, an oil on canvas group portrait of the celebrated five children of the Marsh family of Boston. The two pair of twin girls and their younger brother became well known on both sides of the Atlantic in their day, because sets of twins were pretty rare, and these children were so ridiculously cute. Apparently the greatest artists of their day were all clamoring to paint their portraits. The Magazine Antiques ran an article on the children and their popularity about 20 years ago.

The short hair cuts sported by the girls are quite striking, and are actually not as odd and rare as many people assume. While longer hair enhanced with ringlets and other curls were very much the popular fashion, a good number of parents did boldly break away with these daring short bobs. Perhaps they were the “bohemians” of their day. The style grew in popularity, even among adults, following the French Revolution: dubbed “Guillotine Haircuts” they declared sympathy for the deposed royals.

In this particular instance, I believe the short hair was chosen because it focused more attention on the beautiful faces, and lessened the variations in height and hair color to make them all look even more alike.

A delightful painting, slightly Romantic School, a touch Folk Art, in excellent condition and signed on the reverse. Thomas Arrowsmith was a highly regarded artist who worked almost entirely in miniature. Such artists who created such amazingly detailed tiny portraits on ivory rarely ventured into a the larger paintings on canvas, although Arrowsmith was known to occasionally but rarely do so. We are lucky he did: this is an arresting, beautiful work… a showstopper.

Mounted under glass in a contemporary carved, rouged and gilded gallery frame.

Measures: 29-3/4 in H x 23-3/4 in W