PORTRAIT OF A TENNESSEE FAMILY

This portrait of four charming, but as-yet unidentified children was painted by East Tennessee's leading painter of the antebellum period.  Trained as a lawyer, Samuel Shaver abandoned the practice of law to pursue an artistic career.  A roundhouse and train in the background hails the arrival of the new railroad transportation system that transformed the continent, making both travel and the shipment of goods easier and faster.