Tony the Bootblack, (painting).

Tony the Bootblack, (painting).

Saybolt, Alice Hookway, 1851-1915, painter.

Tony the Bootblack, (painting).

Portrait of a young boy standing by a wooden barrel, his left foot, wearing only a sock, rests on a small stool beside the barrel. In his left hand he holds his boot atop the barrel and In his right hand he holds a brush. He wears dark pants with the cuffs rolled, a red vest, and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

Portrait male -- Unidentified -- Child

Portrait male -- Unidentified -- Full length

Occupation -- Service -- Bootblack

Architecture interior

Wayne County Historical Society of Ohio, 546 East Bowman St., Wooster, Ohio 44691 Accession Number: 1997.1805.001

Gift of McMillin, Frederick, ca. 1980.

Painting was a gift of the artist's grandson Frederick McMillin. Although a Wayne County Historical Society notation on the back of the frame suggests the subject was a person living in the 1870s, the historical society's research indicates it could depict a person at a much later date, perhaps around 1907-1912. According to the historical society, there was a popular short four-act play or melodrama entitled "Tony, the Bootblack" copyrighted in 1907 that played throughout the U.S. for a number of years. In 1912, Lazar & Mantho Company opened a new shoe shining parlor in Wooster.

Wayne County Historical Society, 1980, 2019.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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