A Gentleman by Isaac Sheffield, signed, circa 1830.

  Although Sheffield advertised as a miniaturist throughout his career, there are only a handful of authenticated examples known.
 
Set in a gilded copper locket frame with cast foliate border, the reverse with glazed aperture.  The miniature is signed obverse right edge, Sheffield pixt.
 
2 1/4 inches high.
 
Isaac Sheffield (1807-1845) The son of a shipmaster from New London, Connecticut, Sheffield would make his name recording his community of seafarers.  After a brief three years working as a miniaturist and portrait painter in New York and Brooklyn, he returned to Connecticut where the New London Gazette announced on October 13, 1830 that Sheffield was "carrying on his business in Court Street a few doors from Mr. Allen's City Hotel..." In addition to portraits and miniatures,  he advertised "landscape, marine and fancy painting."  Sheffield's vigorous portraits are now scarce.  The Smithsonian American Art registry lists only 29.  His miniatures, seldom recognized, are even rarer.  A signed example is in the collection of the Connecticut Historical Society.  

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