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JOHN SAMUEL BLUNT (1798-1832) was a talented Portsmouth, NH-born painter, best known for his maritime scenes, pastoral landscapes and portraits. Blunt was the son of a ship captain. His grandfather piloted George Washington’s boat during the famous crossing of the Delaware River in 1776. Blunt was largely self-trained.
Blunt married Esther Peake Colby of Newburyport in 1821 and the two had six children. In 1830, he moved to Boston. He struggled financially, like many artists, and decided to go West. After selling a group of paintings, he purchased some land in Texas. Tragically, he died of yellow fever aboard the ship Ohio while traveling home to Boston to gather his family.
Blunt’s paintings are typically unsigned. An individual Blunt painting can sell for several thousand to $20,000 or more.
Offering an 8 1/2 x 13 part-printed deed, May 4th, 1835, signed five times by Blunt within the manuscript portion and at the bottom. In part, “John S. Blunt, Painter, and Alfred M. Blunt, Cabinet Maker, both formerly of Portsmouth, in the county of Rockingham and State of New Hampshire, now of Boston, County of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, for the sum of one thousand dollars to us...paid by Thatcher Emery of Portsmouth aforesaid trader a certain lot of land situated on the Southerly side of Pleasant Street in said Portsmouth...” Also signed by Blunt’s wife Esther and W.H.J. HACKETT as Justice of the Peace.
A very clean copy of The Sketchbooks of John Samuel Blunt by Deborah M. Child, 120 pp, published by The Portsmouth Athenaeum, is included. Child has autographed the book. The book includes dozens of images of Blunt’s work.
Hackett was a lawyer, president of Piscataqua Savings Bank, a state representative and senator. Hackett helped get bridges built, established a library and improved schools in Portsmouth. As an elected official and a representative for the conservative Whig Party, he helped connect Portsmouth to the expanding railroad network, linked the old port south to Boston, north to Portland, westward to the state capital at Concord. He joined forces with his neighbor Ichabod Goodwin, New Hampshire’s governor, to supply President Abraham Lincoln with badly needed troops and supplies during the Civil War.
Light expected toning. Small edge tears at fold reinforced by archival tape. Wafer seals are present. Nice docketing on verso.
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