Joseph H. Davis (painter)

This article is about the American painter. For the United States Navy sailor, see Joseph H. Davis (Medal of Honor).
Portrait of Sylvanus C. Foss and Mary Jane Foss, 1836, watercolor, pencil, and ink on paper, in the collection of the American Folk Art Museum

Joseph H. Davis (active 1832–1837; died May 25, 1865) was an itinerant American portrait painter. Over a period of only five years, from 1832 to 1837, he painted about 150 watercolor portraits of residents of Maine and New Hampshire.[1] The body of work he left behind is highly regarded for its calligraphic line, miniaturizing delicacy, and decorative stylization. His pictures are in many important collections, including those of the American Folk Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the National Gallery of Art, the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Strawbery Banke museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Davis died on May 25, 1865, aged 53, in Woburn, Massachusetts.[2]

  1. ^ Little, Nina Fletcher (November 1970). "New Light on Joseph H. Davis, 'Left-Hand Painter". Antiques. 98 (5): 754–57.
  2. ^ Moore, Charlotte Emans. "Joseph H. Davis".