2-999-995 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Mr. John T.(?) Pilling, 1834. Bust-length portrait of Mr. John T.(? or W.?) Pilling, with dark curly hair and moustache, wearing a dark blue coat with black velvet collar, gold buttons on coat, white shirt and high white collar and white stock tied in a bow. The frame claims that the portrait is of Edgar Allan Poe, but this was proved to be spurious when an inscription was found on the back of the portrait reading "Mr. John T. [or perhaps W.?] Pilling, Frankford, May 24th 1834." The attribution to Anna Claypoole Peale is also questionable.