Louisiana School, 19th c., "Van Perkins Winder (1809-1854) of Terrebone Parish", oil on canvas laid on masonite, unsigned, sitter information inscribed on backing paper, 30 in. x 25 in., framed, overall 37 in. x 32 3/8 in. x 2 1/4 in. Provenance: By descent in the family of the sitter; Private Collection. Note: The two portraits offered here depict father and daughter Van Perkins Winder (1809-1854) and Elizabeth Rowan Winder (1834-1842). Van Perkins Winder was born in 1809 into a family originally from Tennessee, which is likely where he met his wife, Martha Grundy. Grundy was the daughter of Felix Grundy, congressman, U.S. senator from Tennessee, Attorney General under President Martin Van Buren from 1838 to 1839 and political advisor to Andrew Jackson. Shortly after Winder and Grundy’s marriage, the couple moved to Schriever, Louisiana in Terrebonne Parish. In 1845, they acquired Ducros Plantation, however the mansion was built by his widow after Winder died from yellow fever in 1854. Construction was completed in 1860 and modeled after The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s plantation home in the Winders’ native state of Tennessee. Martha and Van Perkins Winder had fifteen children, several of whom did not live to adulthood, including their daughter Elizabeth, born in Schriever in 1834. Elizabeth died at the age of eight in 1842 a little less than a month before her sister Margaret who was ten. The proximity of the girl’s death dates, in the summer, during a time when yellow fever ran rampant, suggests that Elizabeth and Margaret likely died from the same illness that would take their father nearly a decade later.The artist responsible for these two portraits is unknown, however the lovingly detailed works show a skilled hand in portraiture. The two sitters’ gentle expressions mirror one another in a way that suggests their familial relationship. Their finely rendered clothing offers contrasting textures from the sheer quality of Elizabeth’s puffed sleeves to the shine of Van Perkin’s waistcoat. The young Elizabeth gently grasps a small bunch of flowers, a symbol of youth and femininity.

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