The example, below, is a well known portrait
of Mrs. Freake, with Mary, her daughter.

The second image is a rendition of this
portrait by a current day artist. 

Primitively painted likenesses have often been
associated with early decor.  These early paintings
were commissioned to be painted by itinerant artists
who traveled around the countryside, seeking
employment, with many accepting room and board
as payment for their fee.  These painted likenesses
helped provide a family linkage of people to their
ancestors before the advent of photography.
These portraits were very popular and  prized possessions.  They were often included in the
listings of home inventories.

During the 17-18th Centuries, these portraits were
clearly an indicator of high social standing, but
around 1800-1850, these simple, naive paintings
became less expensive and more available to
men and women of humble means.  Portraits were
done to celebrate achievement in one's career,
to announce engagements, marriages, births and
as memorials to children lost early in childhood.
Since children often perished at a young age,
many portrait artists focused on painting the young.
Very often, children were shown standing on figured
or patterned rugs, as these shown here, in
paintings done by Edyth O'Neill, of Fredericksburg,
TX, or they were shown leaning against a piece
of furniture.

Also, often included in the composition of the painting, were the toys and pets of the children.  These items tended to be gender related----boys were painted holding dogs, animal pull-toys, tools or hunting items.  These seemed to indicate masculine pursuits or outdoor interests.  Girls held cats, dolls, flowers or needlework to indicate indoor, domestic pursuits.

Much can be learned about the economic prosperity of the families by examining the details of their clothes and the furniture included in the painting.  And these details, painted into the composition, influenced the cost of the commissioned painting.  Many times, only the heads and shoulders of the adults were painted or they were shown with one or both hands obscured in a coat pocket, vest or shawl.  Hands were very difficult to paint realistically, so it was more expensive to include these details in the work of art.

Decorative paintings advertizing various trades and businesses, in the form of trade signs, have also been used over the years.  Many of these sign styles can be seen today at the doors of various stores and shops lining the streets in the historical section of Colonial Williamsburg, Va.

When I moved my store location in 2006, the gentleman pictured below, Ken Manthei, HANDPAINTED the signage on the doors and windows of the current location of Country Keepers.  Ken used only a ruler, tape, wax pencil, paint, a brush and a dowel to steady his hand, to paint the images you see when you visit my store.  Ken  apprenticed under artists who painted the advertizing on grocery store windows and painted the nose cone art on World War II bombers.  He inherited the antique brushes from one of his mentors and these brushes are some of his most cherished possessions.