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Samuel Bell Waugh, a native of Mercer, PA, received art instruction from J.R. Smith of Philadelphia, and traveled to Italy, France and England to study the Old Masters. He painted for a year in New York City (1844-1845) and in Bordentown, NJ in 1853, but primarily lived and worked in Philadelphia, where he became one of that city's most prominent portrait painters.

This charming portrait is of his baby daughter. Samuel Bell Waugh was also the father of Frederick Judd Waugh who became a very prominent sea and landscape painter.

The elaborate carved frame is original to the picture. The painting and the frame are in excellent condition.

This bust-length portrait of an unidentified man was painted by Samuel Bell Waugh, who was born in Mercer, PA, and studied art in Italy, France, England and New York before settling in Philadelphia and becoming one of that city's best known portrait painters. He was the father of the well-known sea and landscape painter, Frederick Judd Waugh (1861-1940).

Waugh exhibited widely in his own lifetime at The Boston Athenaeum, The National Academy of Design in New York and The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, among other places. Today his work is in the collections of at least nine museums, including the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., The New York Historical Society, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. (See New York Historical Society, Dictionary of American Artists, pg. 666.)

The portrait has been re-lined and is in excellent condition. It is housed in an extraordinary 19th century carved gilt frame.