Robert Montgomery Bird: Writer and Artist

["Town Loafer of New Castle.''] 1822? 1826?
Watercolor, untitled, undated, and unsigned
Courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Montgomery Bird

Man reading
Ink and watercolor sketch, untitled, unsigned, dated "March 9th 1825"
Courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Montgomery Bird

This sketch of a man, his feet propped against a chest and reading a book on his knees, dates from Bird's years as a student at Penn and seems obviously a portrait of one of his schoolmates.

"Miss Sophia Moody"
Watercolor, untitled, undated, and unsigned
Courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Montgomery Bird.

Sophia Hansen Moody (1810-1869) was the sister-in-law of Dr. Bird's older brother, John Dickinson Bird. Robert may have sketched her during one of his return visits to New Castle, where the Moodys had their home, between 1820 and 1830.