De Haas, Alice Preble Tucker - portrait of a young lady

This miniature portrait is signed on the front "A de Haas" and on the reverse "Alice Preble Tucker de Haas, Dec 1896".

Alice Preble Tucker (1859-1920) was born 12 April 1859 in the 6th Ward of Boston, Massachusetts, where her father Edgar Tucker was a successful merchant who disclosed assets of $10,000 in the 1860 census, even though he was only 29 years old.

Alice's mother's maiden name was Mary A Preble and Mary was the granddaughter of Commodore Edward Preble, the naval hero, see Edward Preble - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia There is now also a miniature portrait of him in this collection, see Colby, Clara - portrait of Commodore Edward Preble... In 1860 Mary was aged 24 and at that time Alice was the only child, aged 1, but even so they had three servants.

Alice studied at the Cooper-Union and with Mauritz Frederik Hendrik De Haas (1832-1895) a Dutch-American marine painter who was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, see Mauritz de Haas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alice married him on 22 May 1895 in Manhattan, but he died later the same year on 23 November. She also studied with Swain Gifford, William Chase, and Rhoda Holmes Nicholls.

Thus by the 1910 census Alice was widowed, but living in Ward 15, Manhattan, New York where she had an artist's studio and supplemented her income by taking in a lodger. On 13 Jul 1917 she married William Carpender (30 Jan 1844- 25 Nov 1927) a widower and wealthy retired stock broker. For the 1920 census they lived in Manhattan with two servants, but Alice herself died on 11 Jun 1920.

Her exhibition record is lengthy and includes the St. Louis Exposition of 1904, the Art Institute of Chicago, NY Water Color Society and the NY Society of Miniature Painters. Her works were also shown at the National Academy of Design, American Water Color Society, the Boston Art Club and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. Many museums incorporated her work in their shows including the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and the Portland Art Museum, Maine. In 1917 she exhibited two works "Drying the Sails" and "Just Dishes" with the Society of Independent Artists. 1228