ABSTRACT
Byron's history encapsulates fluctuations of taste in the art market, public attitudes in America toward Federal era paintings, and Thomas Sully's evolving reputation as a portraitist and American master. During most of his working life Sully kept an account book of his paintings. As published in an edition of 110 copies by Charles Henry Hart in 1909, the account book lists Sully's portraits in alphabetical order by sitter. Artists often painted portraits of famous people for the purpose of making an engraving. Engravings that sold in large numbers could be remunerative. Byron's next owner was George Munday of Philadelphia. Like James Earle, he kept paintings on consignment and gave them wall or window space in his shop. Thomas Benedict Clarke was born in 1848 to middle-class parents in New York's Washington Square. In 1869, when 21, he bought his first painting by George Inness.
