American School, 19th Century

Portrait of Lavinia Fanning Age Seven Years. Unsigned. Oil on canvas, c. 1803, 35 1/2 x 27 in., in a later molded mahogany frame. Condition: Tears, paint losses.

Provenance: Family descent, reportedly the portrait has hung in the family home for over 200 years.

Note: Lavinia Fanning was the daughter and only child of six children surviving infancy born to Nathaniel Fanning and his wife Elizabeth (Smith). Her father Nathaniel (1755-1805) was an officer in the Continental Navy and later the United States Navy, and most notable, served as Midshipman on board the Bon Homme Richard under John Paul Jones during its 1779 victorious ship-to-ship battle with the HMS Serapis. (The battle where Jones uttered "I have not yet begun to fight!").

Lavini was born September 11, 1796 in New York City, although the family eventually resided in Stonington, Connecticut. She married Nathan Smith March 6, 1814 in Groton, Connecticut. A group of photocopied extensive Fanning family genealogy, execerpts from The history of the Fanning Family, by Walter Frederick Brooks, published in Winchester, Massachusetts, 1905, and an article about Nathaniel Fanning from Historical Footnotes: Bulletin of the Stonington Historical Society, Vol. XII, No. 3, May 1975, accompany the portrait.

Condition: 5 x 5 in. angled tear c.l. just left of child's shoulder, 1 x 1 in. tear l.l. backgound, small puncture on her left facing sleeve, 1 1/2 in tear u.r. background on red drapery;scattered paint losses few on hair and neck, several on dress, and numeous small losses to background.

Any condition statement is given as a courtesy to a client, is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Skinner Inc. shall have no responsibility for any error or omission. The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of aging.