62

William Sidney Mount.

Carte-de-visite portrait, signed and inscribed.

New York, mid-1860s
Hand-colored albumen photograph, 3½ x 2 inches, on original mount with backmark of photographer John H. Grotecloss; minimal foxing; inscribed and signed on verso "Miss M.C. Nicoll, with the compliments of Wm. S. Mount." 

William Sidney Mount (1807-1868) of Setauket and Stony Brook, NY is considered the first notable American genre artist, creating an enduring body of paintings featuring the rural musicians, fishermen, and farmers of his native eastern Long Island. 

The portrait likely dates from toward the end of Mount's life. The first reference we find to John Henry Grotecloss (1833-1902) as a photographer was as secretary of the Photographers' Protective Union in 1865-1866; he ran a real estate classified advertisement using this 226 Bleecker Street address in 1867. 

We have not identified the inscribee Miss M.C. Nicoll, but Nicolls Road is today the major north-south road near Mount's area of Long Island. Mount painted merchant Edward H. Nicoll.

Would a famous artist do the hand-coloring on his own carte-de-visite portraits?  We have no way to know with confidence, but it can't hurt to plant the idea in your head.

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