FRANCIS CEZERON (ACTIVE, EARLY 19TH CENTURY), ATTRIBUTED, FOLK ART MINIATURE PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG LADY, oil on poplar panel, profile depiction of a youthful sitter wearing high-waisted blue dress with lace collar, no signature located, subject identified on an old label attached verso as "Martha Custis". Housed in a period molded gilt frame. Together with copy of "Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington" by G. W. Parke Custis, published 1859 by William H. Moore in Washington, D.C., containing numerous paste-in newspaper and periodical clippings pertaining to George Washington, Mount Vernon, and his legacy, inscribed "Frederick, Maryland" in several locations. By tradition, this book was the property of the sitter. Two pieces total. Circa 1810. 4 3/8" x 3 3/8" sight, 8" x 7" OA.
Portrait with fine craquelure throughout, scattered abrasions and minor surface losses (some to sitter's cheek and neck), varnish discolored. Frame with wear, losses, and later surface.
Literature: See JSE & Associates, 11/14/15, Lot 527 for a pair of portraits attributed to Cezeron.
Provenance: Property from a Frederick Co., MD estate.
Catalogue Note: Very little is known about the mysterious itinerant folk portrait painter, Francis Cezeron. Closely linked with Pennsylvania artist, Jacon Eichholtz (1776-1842), Cezeron may have either learned from Eichholtz or trained him, given the fact that their profile portraits on poplar panel are remarkably similar in style and technique. Cezeron is known to have traveled south from Pennsylvania to Maryland and Virginia seeking portrait commissions, and examples of his work in Virginia are recorded with histories in the Shenandoah Valley, Culpeper County, and the Fredericksburg area. His work is represented today in the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, MESDA, and Colonial Williamsburg.

Portrait with fine craquelure throughout, scattered abrasions and minor surface losses (some to sitter's cheek and neck), varnish discolored. Frame with wear, losses, and later surface.