Joseph Lewis Cunningham (1784–1843) or J. L. Cunningham worked as an

auctioneer An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, in the first half of the 19th century. Among the many lots he sold were birds, horses, real estate, furniture, sea captains' charts, telescopes, American and European artworks, fishing line, feathers, fabric, guns, musical instruments, fruit trees, flower seeds, printers' equipment, and books.

Biography

His business partners included John J. Linzee (Linzee & Cunningham,

India Wharf India Wharf (1804-c. 1962) in Boston, Massachusetts, flourished in the 19th century, when it was one of the largest commercial wharves in the port. The structure began in 1804 to accommodate international trade at a time when several other impro ...

)Boston Directory. 1807 and Lemuel Blake (Blake & Cunningham, "respectable auctioneers and commission merchants"). In the early 1820s he conducted his auctioneering from nos. 2-3 Liberty Square; a fire in 1825 forced him to move. In 1826 he built Corinthian Hall, at the corner of Milk Street and Federal Street, and used "the first floor of the building for his extensive auction rooms." "Mr. J. L. Cunningham has erected a noble building... where formerly stood the mansion... of Judge Paine. It has a number of fine halls in the second and third stories, and on the lower floor, is a spacious and commodious auction room; adjoining which, on each street, are several neat and elegant shops. The halls will be much wanted, and Mr. Cunningham is entitled to some thanks for thus arranging his costly building to the public convenience and accommodation." He married three times, in 1807 to Sarah Inman Linzee (1787-1820), in 1821 to Mary Ann Inman (d.1825), and in 1828 to Catherine Amory. He lived in Boston on Somerset Street (c. 1807) and Bedford Street (c. 1823). He attended Trinity Church. He died in 1843, and was "buried in vault no.32 under old Trinity Church, Boston, afterwards removed to Mt. Auburn cemetery in Cambridge." A trade auction of "books, stereotype plates and stationery, formerly held by J.L. Cunningham" brought in an "amount... unusually large, between 80 and 100,000 dollars."Daily Atlas (Boston), 1841-1843

Auctions conducted by J.L Cunningham

* 1815 ** "Many thousand volumes of standard European and American publications," "the whole stock of books and stationery of the late firm of West & Blake" ** "Entire stock of Col. John Boyle, bookseller"Boston Gazette, 1812-1815 * 1820 ** Library of

Jacob Abbot Cummings Jacob Abbot Cummings (1773–1820) was a bookseller, publisher, schoolteacher and author in Boston, Massachusetts, in the early 19th-century. Biography Born in Hollis, New Hampshire, to Ebenezer Cummings and Elizabeth Abbot, Jacob attended Harva ...

(Blake & Cunningham) * 1821 ** "Collection of cabinet paintings... Many of them have adorned the galleries of the Duke of Buckingham, Marquis of Stafford, Cardinal Woolsey, Lord Fife, Henry Hope, &c." 164 works, including (copies of)

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

's "Achilles;"

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

; Watteau's "Garden at Versailles;"

Thomas Sully Thomas Sully (June 19, 1783November 5, 1872) was an English-American portrait painter. He was born in England, became a naturalized American citizen in 1809, and lived most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including in the Thomas Sull ...

's "Taking of Major Andre" at Doggett's Repository of Arts (Blake & Cunningham)Boston Commercial Gazette, 1820-1826 * 1823 ** "Furniture of a lady leaving the city," including "astral lamp - portable desk - an elegant urn" ** Furniture of "a gentleman removing from the city"Independent Chronicle & Boston Patriot, 1823-1825 ** "330 bales Russia feathers" ** "Family horse and chaise"Columbian Centinel, 1823-1825 * 1824 ** "50 dozen 18-thread cod lines... 5 sacks first quality live geese feathers" ** "Stock of a rectifier of spirits" ** "Cider and porter bottles, China ware, Naples soap, and brushes" ** "Swedish iron" ** "Music types" ** "Paintings by some of the old masters, in handsome gilt frames, some of which were recently imported from London... Titian,

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

, De Heem, Ruysdaal, Vanderveld, Brughel, Wouvermans;" also marble busts of Rubens and Raphael. At Doggett's Repository ** "Madras handkerchiefs, splendid patterns" ** "Canary birds, cages, &c." ** "Furniture for a grocery store, such as standing casks and kegs, scales and weights, lot of measures, tea canisters, counters and drawers, empty pipes and barrels, stone jars" ** "That valuable parcel of real estate, lately the property of Rebekah Parrott, deceased, situate at the corner of Liberty-square and Kilby" ** "4 cases of preserved insects" ** "Nautical instruments, charts, &c... of the late Capt. Charles S. Winship" ** "Parlor fenders" ** "A small, handsome, and well-broke poney, with an English-built gig" ** "Six oven stoves, new" ** "300 roles of French paper hangings... Also - a printing press" * 1825 ** Art collection of "N. Delvaltooth;" including works by (or after)

Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in I ...

, Rembrandt, Watteau. ** "1 brass turning lathe; a small lot of seamen's clothing; 100 lbs. Bologna sausages; a few boxes of Spanish cigars, &c." ** "Shares in the South Boston Bridge Corporation... Shares in the Dorchester Turnpike Corporation" at Merchant's Hall ** "Cabinet stock... at the cabinet manufactory of the late Thomas Emmons" ** "Splendid collection of alabaster ornaments" at

Concert Hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage (theatre), stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention ...

** Furniture; "also - a pair of

duelling pistol A duelling pistol is a type of pistol that was manufactured in matching pairs to be used in a duel, when duels were customary. Duelling pistols are often single-shot flintlock or percussion black-powder pistols which fire a lead ball. Not all fin ...

s; ... ebony German flute; ... gold watch; ... 3 boxes French cordials" at "the Julien Auction Room, corner of Milk and Congress-streets" * 1826 ** Furniture of the Tontine Coffee House, Washington St. ** "200 looking glasses" * 1829 ** "600 double tulips, and 100

ranunculus ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about 1750 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed worldwide, primarily in temperate an ...

roots, just received per Agnes, from London"New England Farmer, Nov. 13, 1829 * 1841 ** "The celebrated Conway Medicines... recipes, medicines prepared and ready to be sent out" ** "Private library... of a gentleman deceased... A solar microscope" ** "Valuable cow and calf" ** "Elegant oil paintings... 64... original pictures and facsimile copies... from some of the most celebrated pictures in... the Louvre, the Hague and Amsterdam" at Harding's Gallery ** "That valuable estate, no.57 Mount Vernon Street," Beacon Hill * 1842 ** "Collection of beautiful green-house plants - among them many fine varieties of roses, callas, verbenas, heliotropes, azalias" ** "French fruit trees, just imported... varieties of... apples, plums, apricots, cherries, peaches, and grape vines" ** "Dutch canary birds, chiefly good singers" ** "Parlor organs" ** "About 30 oil paintings, recently finished by C. Drew... views of well known places in America, chiefly in the neighborhood of Boston: among them several views of

Boston Light Boston Light is a lighthouse located on Little Brewster Island in outer Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The first lighthouse to be built on the site dates back to 1716, and was the first lighthouse to be built in what is now the United States. The ...

, storm, shipwreck, several views of the coast of England, &c."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Joseph Lewis 1784 births 1843 deaths Businesspeople from Boston 19th century in Boston Financial District, Boston Economic history of Boston American auctioneers 19th-century American businesspeople