Paintings Worth Looking At

In which a few intriguing social media discoveries are a good excuse to write about long-forgotten favorites. ( Daniel G. Lamont ) / ( Margaret B. Doyle ) / ( Otis Hovey ) - - -   DANIEL G. LAMONT (1817-1883) My initial foray into the Facebook antiques world was marked by the emergence of this curious and unique pair of portraits (Fig. 1). Shared to the “Early American” Facebook group on August 7, 2025 by an individual seeking more information about her mother’s collection, the style immediately struck me as familiar. I re-posted them as an open question, then quickly edited it once the answer occurred to me: Daniel G. Lamont. The more I looked at the portraits, the more I was convinced. They have a striking likeness to the portraits of Abby Weare Stone and Charles James Fox Stone (Fig. 2), a signed 1851 pair . 

In which an investigation starts with folk art, visits the Netherlands, and ends up back at folk art. I'll admit, I got lucky with this one. I was looking on a stock photo website for “portrait painting” (as one does) and, several dozen pages into the mixed results, I stumbled upon this lovely lady.   Her slightly primitive rendering and sincere charm reminded me of American folk art pastel portraits, an area I’ve spent quite some time researching. I wondered if she might be connected to the works of New England itinerant artists, such as Micah Williams or James Martin . She’s not an exact match, but there’s a vague likeness in the direct eye contact, the soft flat shading of the skin, and the straightforward, almost confrontational, framing of the portrait subject.