In the background is his square-rigged merchant ship wrecked on the rocks off Marseilles, France, in 1814.  Original French dealer's label on the reverse and authentic period inscription, reading, "Captain Alexander Robinson.  Portrait well done, fine detail in the facial features."  Oil on thick artist board, 10" x 14", in its original molded gilt frame, 14" x 16". 

Provenance:  Norman Flayderman, world authority and purveyor of military and nautical antiques.

Price:  $6,000                                                    KR-9-22

In 1969, an Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Museum exhibit, Land and Seascapes as Observed by the Folk Artist from the Collection of Nina Fletcher Little, featured a nearly identical portrait of Captain Robinson with the caption "He arrived home to New York City (after the shipwreck in France), he ordered this portrait of himself with the sinking ship in the background."  What most likely happened is that Robinson returned home  and ordered the more primitive Folk Art portrait copied from the better painted French original.  Supporting correspondence and an article from The Magazine Antiques accompany this extraordinary portrait.