Sensitive American School watercolor folk portrait of a young boy identified by the verre églomisé glass mat as Edward Hidley.  This young boy has the most beautiful brown eyes that stand out from his lightly painted facial features.  His tousled dark brown hair, brownish-grey jacket and umber colored waistcoat highlight his face and sensitively painted hands, in which he holds an open leather-bound book.  He is such a handsome young boy that you will treasure gazing at him every day.  He resides in what may be the original gilt frame and behind what appears to be the original églomisé glass mat which bears, not only his name, but the date 1872.  The paper has light toning which verifies that it has been behind the mat for years.  The églomisé is in extremely good condition and is sealed on the back, but verifies its age with good shrinkage and just a bit of paint loss, mostly at the edges.  Framed size 9 5/8” x 6 1/8”.  I have found a census record for Edward Hidley from New York who was born about 1868.  This is all I have found and cannot verify that the Edward from New York is this Edward…but it may be although I think the boy in this portrait is a little bit older than 4 years old.  This is a really wonderful watercolor folk portrait.

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