Pair of American portraits featuring Anthony James Blanchard (1768 - 1853) of New York, and his wife Maria (Williams) (1775-Unknown). The artist is John Wesley Jarvis (1780-1839), who in 1814 became the premier portrait painter in New York for more than a decade after executing a commission from the city of New York for six full-length portraits of the naval heroes of the War of 1812. Examples of his painting are in the collections of the New York Historical Society and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Anthony J. Blanchard was one of the first lawyers admitted to the bar in the newly formed United States, was the District Attorney for the county of Essex, NY, and became the First Judge of Common Pleas in Washington. Maria Blanchard (Williams) was the daughter of Dr. John Williams, a physician who was a General in the revolutionary army and Congressman in the New York Provincial Congress in the revolutionary war, and later a member of the New York Senate and Assembly. The portrait of Anthony J. Blanchard has a label verso from the Metropolitan Museum of Art indicating that the portraits were on loan to them from Annie Townsend Blanchard, granddaughter of Anthony J. Blanchard. In his portrait, Anthony J. Blanchard is wearing a period suit and holding a piece of paper; in her portrait, Maria Blanchard is wearing a white dress and a black lace shawl. The portraits are signed "J.W. Jarvis" and dated 1808 lower left. Oil on canvas, mounted in ornate gilt frames. Pictures appx 30"h x 25"w; Frames appx 37 1/4"h x 32 1/2"w.