Women in the 19C United States of America: 19C American Women by John S. Blunt 1798

Sunday, March 21, 2021

19C American Women by John S. Blunt 1798–1835 The Borden Limner

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Lady with a Gold Comb

John S. Blunt was was born in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area. Many of John S. Blunt's family were seafaring people. His father was a ship captain, as were other members of his family. Blunt did come to paint Atlantic maritime scenes, but they were not his most popular works. It is reported, that he trained as a young man at the Boston workshop of John Ritto Penniman (American craftsman & artist, 1782-1841), learning the craft of painting signs, fire buckets, militia standards, & other forms of ornamental painting. In 1819, Blunt traveled with portrait artist William P. Codman up the Merrimack River as far as Concord, NH, seeking commissions for portraits, landscapes, & fancy paintings.

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Joann Edson Borden (1811-1849)

For over a century, the work Blunt did was not attributed to him. He was coined the “Borden Limner” after portraits in New Bedford, MA, of Captain Borden & his wife. The Borden Limner was later identified as John S Blunt using the artist’s ledgers & comparing entries to known portraits.

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Portrait of a Young Woman

Primarily Blount painted portraits of fashionably dressed & elegantly coifed ladies with elaborate period hairdos. Some wear stylish lace caps or gold & tortoiseshell combs. Most of his female sitters wear brooches, necklaces, earrings, & rings. Through his ads, which appeared between 1819-1828 in the New Hampshire Patriot & New Hampshire Gazette, he sought commissions for portraits; advertised an exhibition of his paintings; & sought young lady “scholars” for his drawing & painting school. His surviving detailed ledger indicates that he was frequently hired by Masonic groups, for whom he made aprons, sashes, & military standards.

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Lady in a Black Dress

Blunt married Esther Peake Colby (1801-1872) in Boston in 1821; and in 1825, he opened an art instruction school in Portsmouth. John S. Blunt moved to Boston in 1831, opening a studio at 54 Cornhill, while living on Castle Street. He would only live in Boston 3 years.

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Portrait of a Lady

Blunt advertised that he could paint oil portraits on canvas; work on glass, paint signs; do ornamental enameling, gilding, & bronzing; and make military standards. Blunt seemed most comfortable using oils on small canvases. Occasionally, he also painted on wood panels. As a portrait painter, he obviously believed in black, red, & the puffiest of sleeves.

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Miss Frances A Motley

John S. Blunt died aboard the ship Ohio on a voyage from New Orleans to Boston in 1835, at the age of 37.

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) The Willard Family

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Mrs Miller of Newton, New Jersey c 1830

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Portrait of Rebecca Brownell

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Portrait of a Young Lady

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Lady on a Red Sofa 1833

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Lady Wearin a Green Dress with Jewelry

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Portrait of a Lady

John S. Blunt (American artist, 1798–1835) Possibly Martha Coggswell (Mrs Fraklin Colburn)

About this blog

In colonial America, men were considered superior to woman in all ways. In a strict patriarchal hierarchy, men controlled not only wealth & political power but also how their children were raised, religious questions, & all matters of right & wrong.

In the early part of the 19Cy, however, many Americans experienced a revolution in gender. The doctrine of “separate spheres” maintained that woman’s sphere was the world of privacy, family, & morality while man’s sphere was the public world -– economic striving, political maneuvering, & social competition. But women were interested in equality.

In 1848, New York passed the Married Woman’s Property Act. Now a woman wasn’t automatically liable for her husband’s debts; she could enter contracts on her own; she could collect rents or receive an inheritance in her own right; she could file a lawsuit on her own behalf. She became for economic purposes, an individual. By 1900, every state has passed legislation modeled after this, granting married women some control over their property and earnings.

In 1870 after the Civi War, the 15th Amendment was ratified, saying, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” African-Americans could vote, but women could not.

But it was not until 1920, that the 19th Amendment was ratified granting women the right to vote. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”