My theory about a Mareska family origin
loses a lot of credibility to learn that "the seller picked it up at Brimfield." That would not be impossible or even improbable, but to identify the subject as Sam Thompson is a reach. I know for certain that the painting was not among the many items that my father received from Aunt Ida's caretaker upon her death. I further believe that if the painting had anything to do with Sam and Ida, it would have been kept in the family as so many other relics were.
I have, or have access to, many contemporary portrait cabinet cards of Sam, including N173s, that reveal his attire and facial features of the moment. To me, there is nothing about the painting's subject that uniquely identifies him as Sam Thompson.
The pictorial evidence of the painting that we see, and even the provenance itself, point to a genuine 19th century artifact, but I'm going to float the idea that the subject is another player from the Detroit 1887 team?
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