Pair of early 19th century oil portraits of General Samuel Bridgham (first mayor of Providence RI) and his wife. Identified verso on exhibition labels (lent by Mrs. Pickett M. Greig) as attributed to Samuel L. Waldo & William Jewett circa 1830. Size: 36 x 29 inches, framed 42 x 35 inches. Both in very good, original condition, Theodore Kelley NY stencilled canvas, found recently in the Thomas Greig estate in NH. NOTE: Samuel Bridgham 1774-1840 graduated Brown University at 20 years old, was a Brigadier General in the War of 1812, became a lawyer and was elected to the RI General Assembly nineteen times. He was also elected first mayor Providence in 1832 and was the first Brown alumni to become chancellor of the school. In our research, a near-identical COPY of the Samuel Bridgham portrait by Waldo & Jewett hung in Providence City Hall for many years and was later donated to Brown University and is now housed in their portrait collection. According to the Brown website, the later copy was commissioned three months after Bridgham's death in 1840, copied from an existing portrait made during the subject's lifetime and presumably owned by the Bridgham family. These 2 portraits are, without doubt, the original works by Waldo & Jewett!