William McGregor Paxton (American, Massachusetts/Maryland) graphite on paper bust portrait of President Grover Cleveland. Unsigned. Three previous gallery labels en verso including Vose Galleries of Boston, Coe Derr Gallery of New York City, and Adelson Galleries of New York City. Housed in a carved gilt wood frame. Sight: 10 1/2" H x 8 5/8" W. Framed: 17" H x 15 1/4" W.

Biography: William Paxton is remembered as a key artist in the establishment of American Impressionism, and received so many portrait commissions that he was nicknamed "the court painter of Philadelphia." Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Grover Cleveland were among his more famous subjects. He was heavily influenced by his teachers Dennis Miller Bunker and Joseph De Camp at the Cowles School in Boston, and Jean Leon Gerome at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. a full member of the National Academy of Design in 1928. Many of Paxton's paintings were lost in 1904 when fire destroyed the building that housed his studio. (Sources: William Gerdts, "American Impressionism," and Michael David Zellman, "300 Years of American Art").

Portrait not examined out of the frame, overall good condition. Frame with minor wear to gilt and abrasions.