(mid-19th century) A rare pair of southern portraits: Jared Irwin Whitaker (1818-1884), the 14th Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, and his wife, Nannie Allen Whitaker (1830-1901), unsigned, in male portrait, lower left, inscribed "Hon. Jared Irwin Whitaker/Atlanta", oil on canvas, 30-1/4 x 25 in.; matching 19th century painted wood frames,. Notes: Jared Irwin Whitaker was the active mayor of Atlanta, Georgia in 1861 during the Civil War. He served a short time within that year when he resigned to become the Commissary General overseeing the confederate troops in Georgia. After the war, he was the proprietor of the Weekly Intelligencer newspaper which eventually sold to The Atlanta Constitution in 1871. This is the only known portrait of the Georgia statesman and publisher and his wife. These portraits can possibly be attributed to a popular Atlanta, Georgia artist, John Maier (1819-1877).

both with original stretchers, darkened varnish, crackle, stretcher marks: he, with three large patches verso with related retouch, other scattered retouch, she, with extensive flaking and associated retouch affecting approximately 25% of surface, lined with wax and linen; frames with losses and resurfaced