?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
(PRESIDENTS.) James B. Longacre, engraver; after Thomas Sully. "Major General Andrew Jackson," with a very early proof. Pair of stipple engravings. Completed print: 20 1/4 x 18 1/4; uneven toning, wear and early 2-inch tape repair on right edge, minor dampstaining on bottom edge. Proof: 20 3/4 x 16 3/4; mount remnants on verso, 1-inch closed tear in left margin, moderate foxing. Philadelphia: Association of American Artists / William H. Morgan, 1820 and [1828?]
Two states of the print are listed in Stauffer's "American Engravers Upon Copper and Steel" as #2012 I and II, but neither are the states offered here. The proof before letters is quite preliminary, with light stippling in the face and hands giving it almost the effect of cartoon line work. It bears no copyright, title, or credits, but was likely produced not long before the 2 November 1820 copyright date. The completed print has much heavier stippling in all parts of the image, but close examination shows that they were both done from the same plate. The completed print offered here was apparently produced between Stauffer's state I and II: it does not have the added line "President of the United States" but does have the added line "Published by Wm. H. Morgan, No. 279 Market Street, Philad'a."
We see no pressing motivation for releasing a Jackson portrait in 1820, several years after his War of 1812 heroics. He had resigned his military position in 1819, and his first political appointment as governor of Florida was still a year away. William Morgan's motivation for acquiring the plate after Jackson's ascension to the presidency is more obvious. Perhaps Morgan acquired the proof print along with the plate after Jackson's 1828 election, and produced the present intermediary state as his own proof after engraving his name beneath the image, before finalizing the title.
