The Collector Painting

I walked into a room to find five cats silently staring at me. That’s where this painting began. My first idea was to depict all those wide-eyed cats watching the viewer, but it evolved into a large self-portrait with my feline friends. It would be reminiscent of those family portraits in which everybody dresses alike and looks really uncomfortable trying to appear happy. For my family, I included house cats, work cats, and deceased cats. There are Jeb, Smokey, Kit-Kat, Jack, Pumpkin, and the Poe Museum Cats, Edgar and Pluto. Jeb’s in front because he’s the leader of their little gang. The urn contains T-Bert’s ashes, and the box holds Stinky’s. The bookcase is full of old, leather-bound volumes of forgotten lore, and there’s a bust of Poe on one of the shelves. If you look closely, you will also find a stuffed raven in the top left corner. That little frame in the middle contains a miniature version of Thomas Sully’s Fanny Kemble as Beatrice (1833) from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. I used to visit it and marvel over the way the forms seemed to emerge out of a mist. While the face seemed to come to life, as if she were about to step out of the canvas, the rest dissolved like some disembodied spirit. Kemble (1809-1893) was a popular and talented actress and author who wrote plays, poems, and memoirs. Sully (1783-1872) was so proud of the portrait that he took it with him to England, where showed it to Queen Victoria, who was sufficiently impressed by it that she allowed him to paint her portrait. The portrait was engraved for inclusion in the anthology The Gift for 1836. Poe said the engraved version was “one of the finest things in the world.” In his review of The Gift, he raves, “The likeness is admirable — the attitude exquisite — and the countenance is beaming all over with intelligence.” As a student, I considered that painting the Mona Lisa of America and told myself that, when I could paint like that, I would know I was a great artist. That’s why I included the portrait. Then, the rest of my painting became a frame for that tiny picture.

Painting:Acrylic on Wood

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:27 W x 50 H x 2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.