Charles Bosseron Chambers Portrait, ca. 1920
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GUEST:
This is a picture of a beautiful lady that has been in my family for decades. It was my mother's picture. I don't know who the character is. I would like to know who it is.
APPRAISER:
Well, the painter is Charles Bosseron Chambers. He was born here in St. Louis in the 1880s, and then went to St. Louis University before moving to New York City in 1916. And he joined the Society of Illustrators. In the hierarchy of portraiture, of American portraiture, the most sought-after works are portraits of beautiful women in lovely gowns, made up. This is probably from the 1920s, we can see from her flapper dress and her hair. The artist is very interesting. The bulk of his output was religious works, but he was also a society portraitist, and he also painted a lot of portraits of the Vanderbilt family. We can't necessarily know who the sitter is.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Because we don't have it marked on the back of the painting. It is an oil painting on canvas. When he was painting in this style, he was living in New York, so it's very likely that she's a New York socialite. She's probably dressed to go to a party, or she's meant to be appearing as though she's going to a party. And there's this beautiful decorative patterning also in the background. If this painting came up for sale in today's market, it would probably have an estimate of about $5,000 to $7,500.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
Now, if we were able to determine that it was one of the Vanderbilts, or some other named society individual, then the value might be much higher than that.
GUEST:
Yeah.
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