James Sharpies, an English artist who specialized in making small, cabinet-size pastel portraits, came to the United States with his family in 1793. He and his family worked both in the United States and England subsequently. Typically, his works are three-quarter or profile view on standard 9-by-7-inch gray paper. Sharpies’s wife, Ellen, made many copies of her husband’s work, as did his children, Felix, James, Jr., and Rolinda. The entire family purposely worked in the same style and none signed his or her work, making it difficult to sort out the individual hands.

Related examples: Portraits of Adams and Jefferson at Independence Hall, Philadelphia (Milley 1975) and at City Art Gallery, Bristol, England (Knox 1972, pp. 99–100).

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.