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I often think it's such a shame that we don't have many photographs or any audio of our ancestors, but I wonder how many talented artists in our families drew pictures of their family members and then probably threw it away? Natural artists have always created illustrations as a way of communication. Think of the cave drawings and early Egyptian and other cultures' artistry left -- I bet they just thought, oh, it's just a game, something to do, and wouldn't think of keeping it to pass down to us.
Anyone have any thoughts on this, or any ancestors who left behind sketches?
This is a picture of my maternal grandmother's mother which had always hung on the wall of Granny's home. When she died we took it and found it had become dirty and with some water stains. I took it to a professional restorer and she did a wonderful job on it but could never determine if the picture was a detail drawing or a "colorized" portrait. I really don't care because it is priceless and the only likeness we have of her. The restorer made several prints and also put it on a CD. I suspect it was made in the mid 19th century.
I am lucky to have a lot of photos of my ancestors, some dating back to the mid 1800s. I also have an oil painting of one of my ancestors, I think from the early 1800s. No sketches that I know of - one of my ancestors was an artist but she painted landscapes and flowers.
Those are great, suzy_q2010 and ArakansasSlim. I don't have drawings of my ancestors, however, I know some people who do. They would be wonderful to have. Although, I'm not quite certain, I might be able to get hold of a few photos of great-grandparents from another relative (pictures from early 1900s), but that is about far back as I can go in terms of having photos of ancestors.
You are so lucky to have those early drawings. I have the "usual" photographs from around 1900 and a little bit earlier, that's all. I do have a picture of a oil painting of an ancestor done before photography was invented. Oh, I hope I still have it somewhere.............so many papers. I know I have it somewhere, lol.
On PBS' Antique Roadshow (which I had never seen before until today) someone had a family heirloom of a Revolutionary War era portrait of a solder painted on ivory about the size of 1 inch by 2 inches or so. Since these portraits from the late 1700s are relatively rare, and it was in great shape, it was priced at 50-75K.
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An charcoal drawing
