Featured Help w/ID Antique 19th Century Woman's Portrait

hi everyone. i've had this painting for several years now, i've intended to upload some pictures here in the hope of identifying the emblem on the woman's right sleeve(see pics). i've thought it might be some abolitionist emblem or temperance emblem. i've always assumed she's from the 1850s to maybe the early 1870s, but that's just a guess. the painting is completely unsigned, so i don't know how likely it is to identify the artist, but if anyone has any guesses that would be great too. this was found in a thrift store. the frame isn't original. also, as you can see, the backside doesn't appear to be very old at all. i would describe the surface it's painted on as some sort of artist's board. this has always been one of the mysteries to me about this piece. i figured it was originally framed in such a way that the back never got exposed to air or whatever it is that causes aging. also, the painting itself measures 8"x10". any help will be appreciated...thanks

 

To my eye, she's wearing pagoda sleeves with an embellished cuff.

Debora

 

I'd have figured 1850s from the hairstyle and jewelry designs. The knot earrings could be 1840s. The black dress and ribbons tell me she was in mourning, but it may have been the only formal dress she had that still fit.

 

It could very well have been relined at some point in its life. That would explain the back. Can you get a pic of the side ? Is it oil ?

 

i've thought it might be a mourning dress too. it has occurred to me she might be a civil war widow, for instance.

 

yes, but there's some sort of semi-distinguishable emblem there. i was hoping someone might have an idea what that might be. the artist saw fit to paint that too. it must have some significance.

 

i think it is oil. it looks like it was glued or otherwise stuck to another surface and had to be pried off when it was removed for reframing.

 

This would have been painted before the US Civil War.

It is very dark, but it looks like an embellishment, as Debora said, a rosette shape. Emblems weren't worn on sleeve cuffs.

Rosettes on a 19th century dress, the lady on the left:

 

I would think the painting and frame are a marriage. The matting looks well out of period.

Debora

 

Agree.

 

She's lovely, isn't she? And quite young to be wearing mourning. Perhaps for a child. You might never get past "American school" although a long shot that the itinerant painter could be identified by the lace treatment or canvas size.

Debora

 

A delicate face. I'm sure we'll see more of her true beauty once the painting has been cleaned.

Or a parent.

 

yes, the frame is newer. also, i'm now understanding what you were saying about the thing on her sleeve. i think i was just hoping there might be some insight to be gleaned from it. there's really nothing to go on in terms of information to draw from this painting, other than, she's a young woman possibly in mourning. i think she look a bit like Julia Roberts.

 

Sorry, I was just thinking out loud. Didn't tell you anything you didn't know already. Except I do think that's an embroidered rosette on her sleeve and not an emblem. She does look a bit like Julia Roberts with her retroussé nose and wide mouth although her face is much less fuller.

Debora

 

If it was mourning for a husband, Mexican-American War maybe. That's where most of the Civil War generals etc got their experience. That ran from 1846-1848 so it matches her clothing. There's no way to know if this was the case, but it would fit.

 

Life expectancy in the early Victorian age was so low that widowhood wouldn't have necessarily been tied to war.

Debora

 

Too true. Things that wouldn't be much whoop now were fatal then.

 

Now it's mostly traffic accidents at that age. Or in the US, guns.

 

Or suicide by any means. Drug use. Alcohol.