Edith Harlow by
Laura Coombs Hills, A.N.A.,
signed, circa 1905.

Hills, probably most acclaimed today for her floral paintings, often used flowers and leaves as backgrounds for her magnificent miniature portraits.  This is a fine example.
 
Edith Harlow (b. 1879) was the eldest of the three children of railroad executive Edward Dexter Harlow of Boston and Salem.   Edith and her brother Arthur Franklin Harlow, an artist, never married, living with their mother until 1930.  They were both friends of Laura Coombs Hills, who painted Edith, Arthur, and their neice, Helen.
 
Set in the original oval turned wood frame, the reverse with exhibition labels and sitter identification in the artist's hand.  Additionally, the portrait is signed on the obverse.  
 
5 3/4 inches high.
 
Laura Coombs Hills, A.N.A. (1859-1952) was a founding member and vice-president of the American Society of Miniature Painters.  A native of Newburyport, Massachusetts, Hills studied art in Boston and the Art Students' League in New York.   Hills worked primarily in pastel and watercolor, first exhibiting at the Boston Watercolor Club in 1890.  She taught herself the art of miniature painting, exhibiting her first efforts in 1893.   In addition to the American Society of Miniature Painters, which was founded in 1898, Hills exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy and the National Academy of Design.   Hills' extraordinary portrait of Persis Blair is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 sold

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