Figure 1.--This Robert Peckhan portrait is the children of Oliver Adams. The four Adams children are painted in their home in the Bolton area. The children are left to right: Joseph Sawyer (1828-31); Frances Anne (1824-38); Laura Ann (1826-97); and John Quincy (1830-37). Their father Oliver Adams was from Petersham . Their mother was Zilpah Sawyer (Peckham's sister-in-law) of Bolton. Joseph and Frances share a red ball. The children all wear very similar dresses done in bright colors., The dresses are low-cut top, baloon sleeves, high waists, and long skirts, almost covering their pantalettes. The waistbands are sewn on to the front, but are probably detached in the back and tied into bows.

This Robert Peckhan portrait is the children of Oliver Adams. The four Adams children are painted in their home in the Bolton area. The children are left to right: Joseph Sawyer (1828-31); Frances Anne (1824-38); Laura Ann (1826-97); and John Quincy (1830-37). John Quincy was of course named for the president (1825-29) who was defated by Andrew Jackson in 1828. We are not sure about the family relationship. Their father Oliver Adams was from Petersham. Their mother was Zilpah Sawyer (Peckham's sister-in-law) of Bolton. Joseph and Frances share a red ball. The children all wear very similar dresses done in bright colors., The dresses are low-cut top, baloon sleeves, high waists, and long skirts, almost covering their pantalettes. The waistbands are sewn on to the front, but are probably detached in the back and tied into bows. There are decorative colored bands near the ankle hem of the skirt. The major difference is color, yellow for the girls and red for the boys. I don' think the color choices have any gender connotations, only different colors for the boys and girls. Note the colored rather than white pantalettes, the children wear pantalettes marching the color of their dresses. We suspect they were probably done in the same material. The only major difference in the way the children are dine up is their hair styling. The boys have short hair with side parts, although it is a bit difficult to tell in the case of Joseph. The girls have long uncurled hair wihbsharo center parts. The family details (births and death dates) were provided on the back ofthe portrait, including the previous two Olivers, who were painted posthumously by Peckham. This painting includes a post-mortem depiction of Joseph, whose death occasioned his Uncle Robert painying the portrait. The children stand to the right of a window and a dark nail-studded trunk with the in initials "O" (liver) "A"(dams) and to the left of a brown cradle.

Sources

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Created: 5:21 AM 2/24/2012
Last updated: 5:21 AM 2/24/2012