Looking at the data

Some things became clear as I looked at the paintings I found.

There are patterns in the signatures:

1. Wybrants [Date]
2. Wybrants - Artist [Date]
3. Wybrant - Artist [Date]

The paintings were sold in both the United States and the United Kingdom. At least one painting sold in the U.K. is of an American.

Paintings sold in both countries had Wybrants and Wybrant as the name signed.

The dates on the paintings (found so far) run from 1852 to 1855.

Paintings sold in the U.S. date from 1852 into 1853, and one in 1855.

Paintings sold in the U.K. date from 1853 to 1855.

Paintings of the men, sold in both countries, bear strong resemblance.

One painting, sold in the U.K. named the artist as Patrick Wybrant. The seller had seen enough of the paintings to say that the painting was "signed with the artist's usual signature 'Wybrant Artist.'"

Eleanor D. Pancoast

I was hoping, when I searched for Eleanor D. Pancoast, to find out the origin of the painting in her possession. I hoped that I could find she came from somewhere on the east coast, where I might look for Wybrant. It turns out she was into antiques. From her obituary:

Following her marriage in 1978 to her
beloved husband, the late Bob
Pancoast, her talents shifted from the
selling of homes to the selling of
antiques and "worthy accessories".
Antique shows and later a seasonal
antique shop in the resort community
of Charlevoix, MI became the vehicles
in which to showcase her good taste
and talents. --http://archive.cantonpl.org/co/2008-06-01.pdf (page 18 or C4)

No wonder her family parted with the picture; it was part of her hobby or profession and not a family heirloom.

Online search

I searched online for any auctions that had paintings by either Wybrant or Wybrants.

On LiveAuctioneers.com, I found the following:

Wybrant; Watercolor, signed 1852, Miniature, Portrait of Young Man in Black Jacket, 4 inch.

Category: works on paper
Type: watercolors
Origin: America
Year: 1852

A watercolor on card by Wybrant (American, 19th century), a miniature half-length profile of a young man with dark brown hair, wearing a black coat and vest and a blue plaid cravat. Signed and dated lower right, "Wybrant Artist 1852".



On eBay I found:

Watercolour - Patrick Wybrant - An American Gentleman

This is a fine early Victorian watercolour by the listed Hull artist, Patrick Wybrant, who specialised in paintings of characters. It measures 11 inches x 8 inches (28 cms x 20 cms) and is signed with the artist's usual signature 'Wybrant artist' and dated 1852 in the bottom left corner. It is in excellent condition. There is no foxing or damage and the colours are probably as bright as when they were painted. Works by this artist rarely appear.



On Artifact.com I found:

A watercolour portrait of standing young man in blue jacket. Lot 349 Auction House: Stride & Son. Auction Location: United Kingdom. Auction Date: 2008. Description: A watercolour portrait of standing young man in blue jacket 'Orbell Oakes' signed Wybrants 1853, 30 x 22cms.

Glouchester, Massachussetts?

Looking at the internet for an American artist named Wybrants was difficult. In fact, the only thing close was on the site Historical Boy's Clothing, where there is a picture signed "Wybrant- Artist 1853".

The author of the site got his information in the same way I do, by finding what was available on the net. The source was an eBay sale, in which the seller said as much as he could about the painting. From that sale, one can infer that Wybrant painted in the Massachusetts area. That could make sense with the woman in my family painting-she was born in Conway, Franklin County, Massachusetts and its reasonable to think she visited home.

I found a painting online, similar to the one on Historical Boy's Clothing. The description: "Young boy holding a whip and standing beside a horse pull toy, signed in the lower left "Wybrants -Artist 1853"...Provenance: The Estate of the Late Eleanor D. Pancoast, Birmingham, Michigan."

Place where painting was painted, unknown.

In the beginning, a problem

My mother inherited a miniature painting from my grandfather. It was a woman in old-fashioned clothes--blue dress with lace cuffs and a white bonnet. Presumably my grandfather knew whom the painting depicted, one of the women from a previous generation. He labeled it G-G Grandmother Devoe. And that's where the mystery starts.

What we don't know for sure is whether he wrote from his own point of view, or whether he wrote those words for his mother, whose business he took care of. His 2x great-grandmother is a different person than his mother's 2x great-grandmother.

It's too late to ask, so I have begun a quest to find out anything I can about the painting and it's painter. I know the following:

1) The painting depicts a woman who lived in New York state, possibly in Homer, New York.

2) The artists signature is "Wybrants 1855".

Simple right? All I need to do is look up an artist named Wybrants. This shouldn't be hard. After all, a new Leonardo Da Vinci painting was just discovered, based on his fingerprint. The art world is supposed to be organized...