Charles Lyman (American, 1775-1818)
Pair of Portraits: Thaddeus and Elizabeth Leavitt
oil on canvas
each identified and inscribed portrayed by Mr. / Charles Lyman / July 1803, verso
27 1/2 x 24 3/8 inches.

together with a needlework embroidered picture of Kronborg Castle, wrought by Elizabeth Leavitt
Suffield, Hartford County, Connecticut, circa 1806
silk threads with watercolor on silk ground
identified Elizabeth Leavitt. 1806. / A View of Cronberg Castle near Elsineur [sic], eglomise mat
21 x 24 inches.

Thaddeus Leavitt (1750-1813) was a prominent merchant from Suffield, Connecticut, and a notable innovator of the cotton gin. In addition to his successful entrepreneurial endeavors as an importer and exporter, Leavitt also served as a selectman and Justice of the Peace. He joined forces with seven other men from Connecticut to purchase the Western Reserve lands in Ohio from the state government. In that region, Leavitt's descendants were early and important settlers of what later became Trumbull County.

Leavitt wed Elizabeth King (1751-1826) on November 25, 1773, and together, the couple had two children, Thaddeus Leavitt, Jr. and Elizabeth Leavitt Loomis (1788-1865). Elizabeth married Luther Loomis (1783-1868), a merchant from New York, in Hartford on January 10, 1810.

Kronborg, a Northern Renaissance castle in Helsingør, Denmark, is perhaps most famous as the setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet, in which it was called "Elsinore," an anglicized name of the town. Though the mercantile interests of Thaddeus Leavitt extended as far as Spain and Portugal, the play likely inspired this picture, rather than an in-person encounter.

Framed: 33 x 30 inches (portraits); 29 x 32 1/2 inches (needlework).

Paper labels affixed to each verso identify Thaddeus and Elizabeth King Leavitt as the great, great, great grandparents of Frederick and Louis Killan.

Each of the three works included in this lot is in overall good and stable condition. Needlework with flaking and scattered losses to eglomise mat. Few loose threads, with slight discoloration to painted sky. Framed with cracks and areas of loose and absent beading. Each portrait with moderate deposits of surface grime and spotting. Even craquelure throughout, with stretcher marks to perimeter of each, most notably at upper and left edges of canvases. Frame abrasions also present, and Thaddeus's portrait with additional surface abrasion at his left shoulder. Neither has been relined. Old varnish visible under UV light examination, along with minor areas of inpainting to areas abraded by frame. Frames with finish loss and cracks, along with multiple losses to beading throughout.