John Brown

Museum quality portrait of John Brown, the famous abolitionist who fought to end slavery prior to the outbreak of the civil war. The reverse of the painting has the information "The Abolitioner, John Brown, born 1800 died 1859". The garland branch motif, at the bottom of the painting, was often used in artwork of the mid 1800s. We are still researching the identity of the painter.

Here's what a John Brown author/researcher, Dr. John DeCaro, wrote about this painting:

"As a biographer and scholar of Brown I can assure you that there is no possibility that Brown sat for this painting. Brown was a very progressive man and in the 1840s and 1850s, he periodically sat for daguerreotype portraits--the early photograph.  He never sat for a painted portrait. Numerous paintings have been made of Brown, some of them very well done based on daguerreotype portraits, others inspired by those images. This painting was apparently a rendering by someone who never saw Brown...the hair and beard are stylized. It may have been done in tribute to him by an admirer (perhaps a black artist?)...." This painting is oil on wood board, measures 12" x 10" unframed and 16" x 13" in its period frame. This is unusual, rare subject matter. >>>>

-- Seventeen genuine issues of Harpers Weekly, illustration and content rich about John Brown.
-- Four vintage engravings of T. Hovenden's "John Brown on His Way to Execution".
-- Genuine eyewitness account of John Brown's battle at Harper's Ferry as seen by one of his prisoners, John Daingerfield (1885).
-- First Edition (1929) of Benet's, John Brown's Body.
-- Late 1800s sheet music, John Brown's Body"