THE LIBERTY TOOL CO.
(Jonesport Wood Co.)

is sponsoring the sale of a group of interesting old paintings we have purchased from New England estates during the last 45 years. 50% of the sales price will be donated to the Davistown Museum. A 501(c)(3) tax credit is available.

Pontormo Painting on Board

The painting is on board and of the period (circa 1540 – 45). It is 23 inches wide and 32 inches high.

The painting has very close stylistic resemblances to the Deposition by Pontormo in the church of Santa Felicita in Florence, one of the masterpieces of the early post-Renaissance mannerist style. In particular, the delicate light-toned colors and the facial expressions of the three figures are characteristic of Pontormo's ethereal and transcendental style.

The painting has been located in Hulls Cove, Maine for the last 32 years and originated from a Massachusetts, estate, circa 1985. The specific provenance of the painting was lost with the death of the ancestors of the Massachusetts owners, but the oral history of the painting was that it had always been attributed to Jacopo Carucci Pontormo. A careful viewing of the stylistic elements of this painting verifies the fact that it is either by Pontormo or his workshop.

Persons interested in purchasing this painting are urged to view it in Hulls Cove, Maine. The pictures do not do justice to the quality of this artwork. Several sections in the center of the painting were damaged to the extent of suffering paint loss. This damage was stabilized by John Squadra of Brooks, ME. The remaining sections of the painting are original including the faces of Mary and Joseph. A new frame was constructed by Paul Manfredo of Southwest Harbor, ME. After the painting was purchased in the 1980's, the paint loss was stabilized; the painting was not restored and the damaged areas are evident in photographs. Careful restoration could make this early 16th century painting suitable for any museum in the world. Paint loss areas include two sections above the head of Jesus in the left center of the painting at the same level as Mary's forehead, in the area of the hair and just above the head of Jesus as well as in his face around the mouth and just below the right eye. Also suffering paint loss was an area on and below the lower arm of Jesus. A photograph of the painting prior to restoration may be seen at Hulls Cove and will be available to the buyer.

This painting is not accompanied by a certificate of authenticity despite our certainty that it is by Pontormo or his workshop. To avoid legal complications, the painting is being sold as Jacopo Carucci Pontormo (?) or his workshop. We do not know to what extent Pontormo participated in helping his workshop produce this painting. The age and style of this painting is not something that can be faked. It is on board and of the period. Michaelangelo (died 1564), who may have known the introverted Pontormo, was alive at the time this painting was executed but had left Florence and moved to Rome in 1534. This painting was likely executed just after that date. Due to the fragility of this painting, the buyer must pick it up in Hulls Cove, Maine. We will not ship it, but the buyer may make shipping arrangements. Payment must be made by certified check.


Portrait of Mlle. Carpentier
by Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas

Oil on canvas, signed "Degas" on the front lower left hand corner, also signed "Degas" on the back of the frame with the inscription "Mlle. Carpentier."

This painting has been in the Jonesport Wood Co. collection for over a quarter of a century. It has an interesting possible Havermayer provenance via a Beverly Farms, MA, property sold circa 1990. 16" x 20".

For more information on this piece, click here.

On display in Hulls Cove.


Cole Pond, Vermont, by Milton Avery


This Avery landscape was painted at Cole Pond in Rawsonville, VT, in the late spring or early summer of 1945, before Milton went to Gloucester, MA to paint – a frequent summer hangout for Milton and many other painters. Milton had previously spent the summer of 1939 at Cole Pond, and unique landscape may have been painted for a neighbor or friend who also spent time at Cole Pond that summer. One among thousands of Avery’s quick sketches and paintings, this canvas illustrates his occasional use of the bare ground of the canvas as background, and also incorporates his habitual use of orthogonals and his occasional use of linear slashes to express structure – in this case the structures of the houses on the far side of Cole Pond. This painting is an important expression, despite its realism, of Avery’s ability to express space and form with color, his penultimate achievement as one of America’s most important abstract painters. This painting hung in a darkened second floor hallway of a Boston suburb for almost 40 years before it came into the possession of the curator of the Davistown Museum (1984).

For more information on this piece, click here.

On display in the Davistown Museum.


London Bridge
by William Ratcliffe (1870-1955)

William Ratcliffe was a student of Walter Sickert and one of the first English Impressionists, if one excepts T. M. W. Turner. As one of the first impressionist paintings made in England, this is a most interesting little fragment of English art history.

On display in the Davistown Museum.