Reuben Rowley
American, fl. 1825-1836 Portrait of a Young Girl with a Coral Necklace, 1826
Inscribed No. 56, signed R. Rowley and dated 1826 on the reverse Oil on canvas 26 x 21 3/4 inches Little is known of the life of Reuben Rowley, an itinerant portrait and miniature painter who lived in the vicinity of Ithaca and worked in Chenango and Susquehanna Valley towns in New York State in the mid-1820s. He was in Albany in 1832, where he is believed to have taught Philip Hewin. He moved on to Boston, remaining until 1838, exhibiting portraits and still life paintings at the Athenaeum. Few examples of Rowley’s work have been identified, and still fewer are signed. A pair of paintings of Colonel and Mrs. Richard Juliand is inscribed in a manner similar to that on the present work; it has been suggested that this, indeed, may be the artist’s signature. [William F. Brooks, Jr., “Reuben Rowley,” Encyclopedia of American Folk Art. New York: Routledge
…. Note* Saving this to research…. look at the obituary listed below, Only married one month? …the wife died so young! 23 years old, So sad!! Who is the young girl he painted, I can’t find where he was buried? Not with his wife, who was only 23 when she died, and of what? …”very large attentive audience…gracious, unassuming disposition, peculiarly mild and amiable,” Peculiarly mild and amiable? hmm why?….. I’m repeating myself, rambling… this is how I get hooked… have to get the facts all straight… stay tuned…… * 
1 vol.: ill (some col.); 39 cm.
Scrapbook contains original drawings, engravings, woodcuts, photographs, cutouts from period publications, wallpaper scraps, and fabric swatches arranged in room layouts. Rooms created include three parlors, four chambers, and a picture gallery, dance hall, sewing room, nursery, kitchen, china closet, music room, etc. A stationer’s label from Salem, Massachusetts, suggests that the album’s compiler was from that town or area.
Folio 288.
Entry 461. A collage album, or scrapbook, containing images of what a room looked like in the mind of a late nineteenth-century young adult interior designer. Ca. 1880s. http://www.winterthur.org/html/downs_collection_and_winterthur_archives/xhtml/JDCMcKinstry.htm
OBSERVERWednesday, March 4, 1829Hartford, Connecticut |
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MRS. ROWLEY DIESMrs. MARY ANN, wife of Mr. Reuben Rowley of Tompkins County and elder daughter of Zachariah Cone, Esq., of Hebron, died at Hebron, Connecticut, on Tuesday, 20th January, aged 23 years. Funeral at St. Peter’s Church …very large attentive audience…gracious, unassuming disposition, peculiarly mild and amiable. On 24th December last she was married to Mr. Rowley, a distinguished portrait painter. |
Rowley Registry Data |
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| NAME | RRN | SPENCER # |
| Mary Ann Rowley | 7694 | |
| Reuben Rowley | 7693 | |
| Zachariah Cone | 18227 | |
| Ancestors and descendants of these individuals have not been determined. There was an Erastus Rowley, son of the Revolutionary hero, Aaron, who was married to Eunice Cone in 1799. They lived in Berkshire County, MA. Erastus had a younger brother named Reuben, born in 1776. This couple had apparently only been married a month when she passed away. | ||
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Contributed by Ernst Spencer, 8/98.
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