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John Oscar Kent and His Sister, Sarah Eliza Kent
Samuel L. Gerry (1813–91)
Signed and dated, on reverse: “S. L. Gerry. / Paint. 1844”
Oil on canvas (30 1/8 x 25 in.)
Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, gift in memory of their father, the sitter, by Miss Katharine A. Kent and Miss N. Pauline Kent
43.29
In Gerry’s 1891 article “Old Masters of Boston” he acknowledged the importance of portrait painting in allowing artists to remain solvent. Writing of another local portrait artist, he stated that “portraiture being in all lands a staple, he wisely chose it for support.” This example was commissioned by John Kent of Charlestown, a brewer, and pictures Kent’s then eight-year old son and six-year old daughter.
