Small, Sweet Folk Art Portrait of a Blue-Eyed Girl

Andrew Carlin (1816-1871). Deaf Mute Artist.
Philadelphia, ca. 1840-1850. Oil on canvas.

The pretty young girl with huge blue eyes in green dress with lace edging and puffy sleeves. Signed lower right AB Carlin (and more unreadable as partially under the frame). From the National Park Service: Andrew Carlin was deaf from infancy, he signed his paintings as “AB Carlin/a Mute” (the latter presumable what is obscured under this frame).

When the Civil War broke out, Andrew wanted to join the Union Army. At that time, total deafness was an exclusion for military service. However, people with hearing loss determined to fight for their country could sometimes find a recruiter willing to accept soldiers who could fake a level of hearing when questioned. Andrew wasn’t able to pull this off, but he still followed William T. Sherman’s army closely. His most known painting became “Sherman’s March Through Georgia, 1864.”

In fine condition, unlined, with craquelure and minor touchup, the back of the canvas retaining the stamp of the canvas preparers "Ashton and Browning 204 Chest St. Philadelphia". The perimeter of the canvas strip-lined to give edges strength. Original stretcher. Bold period gilt frame, frame dimensions about 22 inches tall x 19 wide.