Profile of a Boy

Dateca. 1820

Attributed to Ruth Henshaw Bascom 1772 - 1848

MediumPastel on paper

DimensionsPrimary support: 16 7/8 x 13 1/16in. (42.8 x 33.2cm) and Framed: 19 7/16 x 15 1/8 x 3/4in.

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1931.200.1

DescriptionA bust-length profile portrait of a young boy facing left against a solid blue background. He wears a dark blue jacket with gold buttons and a shirt showing a large white collar. He has brown hair and brown eyes. The outline of the eye is done in pencil.

The 2-inch lap-joined, flat frame is stained brown and is possibly original.Label TextRuth Henshaw Bascom was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, on December 15, 1772. After the death of her first husband, she married the Reverend Ezkiel Bascom. Bascom's diaries, which survive today at the American Antiquarian Society, indicate that she considered "taking profiles" a pleasant pasttime and yet she created hundreds of portraits during her lifetime.

This life-size pastel of a small boy facing left is typical of the numerous profiles Bascom made. The child's very stylized head and upper torso were drawn, likely with the aid of a physionotrace, a popular instrument used by silhouette artists to trace a person's physical features. Profile of a Boy is placed against a light blue background, also typical of the artist's work.
ProvenanceFound in Bridgeport, Conn.; Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, NY; purchased from Halpert by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., by whom given to CWF.