[Art] Stevens, W.W.

SKETCH BOOK. [cover title]

[Meredith Village, NH: ca.1857]. Original drawing book belonging to W.W. Stevens, with approx. 18 pages of illustrations and sketches in pen & ink, pencil, and watercolor, many with political content, plus 2 small watercolors laid in. Light green stitched paperwraps, 22 x 28 cm. Sketches protected by tissue guards of various colors. A few pages removed, some clipped from the original drawing book, some sketches more fully rendered, some more quickly done. Stevens, an amateur young artist practices his figure and landscape drawings on the pages, often filling the leaves with several images. Overall, an accomplished group of sketches and drawings from an observant eye.
The front cover has been illustrated with a pen and ink sketch of a shield with the initials "B & B" [Pres. James Buchanan and his Vice Pres. John Breckinridge were elected in 1856, to succeed Pres. Franklin Pierce], plus an eagle, a flag, and a pencil sketch of a full length portrait of H[enry] Clay. W. Stevens' signature, as well as the name "James D. Davis" appear on the front cover. The rear cover is signed in a neat hand "W. Stevens, Meredith Villag[e]." On the inside of the front cover, occupying about a quarter of the page, is a nicely rendered pen and ink sketch (12 x 12 cm.) of "Napoleon's Camp," with Napoleon standing bent over a map on a table in his tent, several other soldiers nearby (one resting, one studying the map, one examining correspondence). Other sketches on the same page show military and political figures, some hastily sketched, others in more detail.
The first page of the sketchbook has a pen and ink head portrait of G[eorge] G. Fogg. Fogg (1813-1881) was a local New Hampshire newspaperman, and later Pres. Lincoln's Minister Resident to Switzerland from 1861-65, and a U.S. Senator from New Hampshire from 1866-67. A small watercolor sketch of a country town amongst the trees, 6 x 15 cm., is in one corner of the page. The verso of this same page shows a small sketch of three people, likely a hunting scene, in one corner, and several other sketches of standing figures or profile portraits, presumably politicians or orators from their posture (some of the figures resemble Daniel Webster), and two small emblems titled "Social Fraternity 1831." Subsequent pages show other military and political portraits, including one of George Washington, and the artist's efforts at calligraphy. There is a well done portrait sketch of "Gen. Frank Pierce," in pencil, with color highlights (9 x 6 cm.); another sketch of Napoleon, in pencil; a camp-cottage interior scene with outdoorsmen; a "Winter Sene" [sic] of a home on the water, in pencil; a pen & ink sketch of a standing figure labeled "Webster's Father," a good pencil likeness of Daniel Webster, a row of small age-progress portraits, a small figure gesturing, accompanied by a quote "they will yet hear from me," etc.
The last page of the drawing book contains a pen & ink sketch of "Washington and his Army Crossing the Del[aware," showing four boats being tossed by the waves, and Gen. Washington standing in the bow of the nearest boat which is full of soldiers with their rifles and men furiously rowing (15 x 27 cm.). The two watercolors laid in include a view of the "House of Weldon," set in the woods, with a smaller sketch (17 x 17 cm.) of a smaller picture of a young girl in a blue dress entitled "Hellen Lee taking a walk;" [on the verso is a pen & ink sketch of a house and outbuilding]; and a more amateurish floral wreath design with what appears to be a thistle in the center [a note on the verso reads; "Abby & Elisa gone to church, am all alone, much love, your Brother George."]. Item #64438

Some of the artist's calligraphy includes practice writing names: Col. E. Stevens, Stevens & Smith, New Hampton, J. G. Fifield, Dan. Webster, Boston, as well as his own, W.W. Stevens. These may help identify the young artist. A likely candidate is William Wallace Stevens (c.1842-1935), who was born in Methuen, Massachusetts, but by the time of the Civil War, was living in Gilford, New Hampshire, a few miles from Meredith Village. He received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in Company I of the 12th New Hampshire Volunteers, recruited in Meredith in Sept. 1862, and was discharged on a surgeon's certificate of disability in April 1863. Col. Ebenezer Stevens, a recruiter for the 12th NH Volunteers, was a well-known businessman in Meredith, helping to found the Meredith Mechanic Association in 1859, and the Meredith Savings Bank, among other things, and may have been a relative. William Wallace Stevens moved to Clinton, Iowa after the war where he was a lawyer. He returned to the east coast where he died in Brooklyn in 1935. [see his obituary in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 2/27/1935].

Price: $475.00