Mary (Clapp) Foust
ARTIST: The “Guilford Limner” is the working name assigned to an unknown watercolor artist, most of whose attributed works were painted in Guilford County, North Carolina in 1826 and 1827. Typical features of the Guilford County likenesses include faces with large, luminous eyes with eyelashes, decorative architectural backgrounds, and sitter names and dates inscribed in block lettering. Later North Carolina portraits, probably painted between 1828 and 1832, are of subjects living in Mecklenburg, Iredell and Rutherford Counties. These differ from the Guilford County portraits in that they do not include decorative interiors or inscribed names, but do include a radiating background behind the figures.
In addition to the North Carolina portraits, nineteen examples of the Limner’s work have been identified with Kentucky histories from Breckenridge, Clark, Bourbon, Franklin, Green, Washington and Lincoln Counties, dated between 1818 and 1825, providing ample evidence that the artist worked in Kentucky before coming to North Carolina. Five South Carolina portraits are known, three of subjects from Union County (Spartanburg), and two from Fairfield County, the latter of which are dated 1832, confirming the Guilford Limner’s working dates from 1818-1832.
RELATED OBJECTS: One of three Foust family portraits by the Guilford Limner, two of which–Jacob and Mary (Clapp) Foust–are at MESDA (5753.1-2). Daniel Foust, Mary’s husband and Jacob’s father, is in a private collection. A reproduction of Daniel’s portrait is at MESDA. MESDA’s sulfur-inlaid chest of drawers (MESDA acc. 5568) was owned by Daniel Foust’s parents George Foust (1756-1836) and his wife Barbara (Kivett) Foust (1761-1837).
DESCRIPTION: Watercolor portrait of Mary (Clapp) Foust. Portrait of a woman facing forward, seated with crossed legs in a fancy painted chair, next to a round turned pedestal painted table on which a black, red and green trimmed vase holds an arrangement of red roses. She is wearing a black dress with a large white collar, black shoes, a white cap with black ribbon, and holds a red book. The background is a brightly painted green wall, black and brown upper molding, dark brown base molding and dark blue marbleized paneling. The floor is brown squares with red flowers at the corners and red circles in the center of each square, suggesting either a carpet or painted floorcloth. Above the figure the name of the sitter is inscribed in block letters painted in black with a red outline, flanked on each end with a floral medallion.
In the nearly forty known examples, sitters’ names frequently appear below their likenesses or in the backgrounds, and dated works range from 1820 to 1827. The North Carolina subjects were successful merchants, plantation owners, and their families, most of whom were related, knew one another, and lived within a five-mile radius of Greensboro. Adults are seated indoors, facing forward or in three-quarter poses. Some male subjects sit cross-legged, while others are seated at tables, writing letters or attending to business accounts. Women often hold handkerchiefs, books, or knitting implements. Children usually stand indoors, or are posed outdoors in landscape or garden settings. Carefully rendered faces are distinguished by large eyes with oversize irises. Hands did not intimidate the artist, for they appear in all the known portraits. Plants are prominent, including flowering vines that flank or arch over some sitters, as well as trees, rosebushes, cut flowers, and, in one instance, ears of corn.
Room furnishings are an integral part of many portraits, making the works valuable records of early-nineteenth-century North Carolina domestic tastes. Adults and youths are seated in painted and gilded fancy chairs, and one elderly subject sits in a turned armchair. Patterned carpets or floor cloths, candle stands, and drop-leaf tables are standard props. Wainscoting and chair rails brightened by faux marble decoration painted in vivid, contrasting hues also appear frequently.
The most vexing question about the Guilford Limner, besides the artist’s identity, regards the source or inspiration for these compositions. Portraits by the Canadian watercolor artist, Thomas Macdonald (c. 1784–1862), come to mind, but it is unlikely that their paths crossed. No body of work of comparable size, originality, or technical proficiency from this period painted in America is known. One explanation, which the two references to the artist may support, is that the Guilford Limner was foreign-born and introduced a new style of portraiture to America.
See also Painting, American Folk; Watercolors.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carroll, Karen Cobb. Windows to the Past: Primitive Watercolors from Guilford County, North Carolina, in the 1820s. Greensboro, N.C., 1983.
Little, Nine Fletcher. Little by Little: Six Decades of Collecting American Decorative Arts. New York, 1984
