Description 

“An artist of no ordinary ability… a harmony of coloring, a freshness of tone, and a smoothness and finish in execution…” “...as nearly perfect as such work can well be.” So wrote the newspapers about John H. Keeley (1817-1866), an Anglo-American portrait painter who moved to New England and met with resounding success. But in recent years, John H. Keeley’s name has been all but forgotten. How could this be? An error in the definitive 1953 “Groce and Wallace” artist dictionary inadvertently inflicted a kind of damnatio memoriae, reassigning his flourishing “J.H. Keeley” signature as “Isaac” Keeley. Fortunately, a recent resurgence of interest in Keeley’s work has also restored his name. 

Keeley’s lavish portraits are still in high demand, regardless of attribution. In his finest works, vibrant jewel tones pop off the canvas. This is best showcased in his portraits of young people from throughout New England and the Upper Atlantic region. The young lady in the present work is from the Dyckman family of Upstate New York. Around 1860, Keeley spent some time in the Fort Edward, NY, area, completing numerous portraits. This, too, may be the date of Miss Dyckman’s portrait, an elaborate endeavor in Keeley’s preferred large-scale format. 

Even for a Keeley painting, which tends to age well and keep its colors, this work is particularly immaculate. It is likely that Keeley learned his paint-mixing techniques during a professional apprenticeship in England. A newspaper describes him as “an English portrait painter whose work is well known.” Though his art has the forthright and honest quality that distinguishes American Folk portraiture, several decorative flourishes, such as the arch with climbing vines, also hint at a British influence. Interestingly, the astonishingly vivid salmon-colored paint used in Miss Dyckman’s dress also appears in the works of other well-known American Folk portraitists of the era.

While Miss Dyckman’s exact name and whereabouts are no longer known, the portrait speaks for itself. The elaborate wrought ironwork on the balcony, juxtaposed with the mountainous background, suggests a stately Hudson River mansion. The carefully plucked flower from the perfectly pruned rosebush invokes a coming-of-age motif, the young woman flourishing on the cusp of adulthood. For a special occasion such as this, with her perfectly styled ringlets, the sitter would have been trying very hard to look her best in wonderfully fancy dress. All these years later, she still does.