IMPORTANT SHENANDOAH VALLEY OF VA FOLK ART PAINTING OF TWO YOUNG LADIES DANCING, watercolor and ink on paper, a brightly colored image of two ladies in festive dress and distinctive head gear, one holding a palm leaf, beside a flowering vine and tree, all rising from a lined ground scattered with flowers, within a drawn border inscribed below "Tuesday Febry 19th, 1828. Shrove T." Original molded walnut frame, poplar backboard, and glass. Second quarter 19th century. 9 3/4" x 7 1/2" sight, 11 1/8" x 9" overall.
Reference: .
Provenance: Descended in the Andrew Sheets (1817-1852) family, Middlebrook area, Augusta Co., VA.
Note: This watercolor is a mate to the single portrait, also from the Sheets family, which sold through our galleries on June 24, 2006. In the image offered here, the unidentified artist is depicting the annual celebration of Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. The Sheets (originally Sheetz) were German immigrants who attended the St. John's German Reformed and Lutheran Church near Middlebrook. Andrew Sheets married Mary Catherine Engleman whose family owned the land on which the Sheets homestead was built.

Excellent condition with some light toning and foxing, a narrow band of light wrinkling, and a 1/4" tear at left margin