A young lady, by John Carlin, circa 1850.

Set in a gilt metal pendant frame.

2 7/16 inches high.

John Carlin (1813-1891), a deaf mute, born in Philadelphia where he graduated from the Pennsylvania Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, became New York City's most prominent society miniaturist. Carlin studied with John Rubens Smith and John Neagle in Philadelphia before going to Paris to study with the academic master Paul Delaroche. Upon returning to America in 1840, he settled in New York. His account book (New York Historical Society) records over 2000 miniatures. Carlin exhibited at the National Academy of Design from 1847-1886. He was also a genre and landscape painter, a writer and poet. In his later years he authored and illustrated the renowned children's book, The Scratchside Family. Carlin's circle of friends included Horace Greeley, William Cullen Bryant, Hamilton Fish and William H. Seward. His obituary in The New York Tribune included the following lines from his own poem "Mute's Lament":
"My ears shall be unsealed and I shall hear;
"My tongue shall be unbound and I shall speak."