Elaborate American Art and Antiques Collection
Founding Fathers, Firearms, Three Muses
A pair of photographs depicting the art and antiques-filled interiors of an American house. The walls in each room are completely covered with framed paintings and prints, antique firearms, swords and other weapons. Notable portraits includes a bust portrait in oils of George Washington, and engraved portraits of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. One of the photographs includes a marble sculpture of the Three Muses. Also shown are vases, porcelain dishes and dinnerware, clocks, a chaise lounge, antique chairs, and miscellaneous finery.
While not all of the antiques shown in the photographs are American, the inclusion of Founding Father portraits and American (Kentucky?) flintlock rifes, as well as the door mouldings of the interiors and other details, suggest an American house of the latter half of the 19th century. And though we have not been able to identify the location shown or the name of the art collector whose collection is depicted, the furnishings, high ceilings, and marble mantlepiece indicate a Victorian East Coast mansion.