The Mysterious Meeting (Deacon Robert Peckham?)

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Recently, I had the privilege of contributing a lot essay for Eldred's upcoming Americana Week. I'd written in with a correction about a portrait once attributed to Deacon Robert Peckham, which was received and amended with exemplary grace. Several emails later, I found myself looking through the auction catalogue, and spotted a piece with a suspiciously familiar composition: this Interior Scene. Its likeness to Peckham-Sawyer Family (1817) is hard to miss. 

I am still not bold enough to attribute "Interior Meeting Scene" to Peckham - we just don't have enough comparative examples, plain and simple. But it's worth drawing attention to that likeness, and putting some greater thought into it. Whether or not it is by the hand of Peckham (and we'll probably never know), it is tremendously appealing as an old-fashioned slice of life.



You can read my lot essay here (Lot #7092, Martha Hamilton Collection, July 22, 2025, 9:30 AM EST). I have no idea what the auction outcome will be, and, of course, I have no financial stake in it. It's simply an exciting piece that I was thrilled to write about. Special thanks to Eldred's and Josh Eldred for being so accommodating and gracious regarding the original re-attribution and the contribution of the lot essay.

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