Ruby Devol Finch

Finch was born Aruba Brownell Devol in Westport, Massachusetts, the daughter of Benjamin Devol, Jr. and Elizabeth Rounds.[1][2] She was the younger of two sisters; previous reporting erroneously described her as one of seven children.[2] Nothing of her education is known. In 1831 she produced a family register for her neighbor Silas Kirby. The following year, on November 8, she married William T. Finch of New Bedford.[1] Five years before her marriage, she gave birth to her only child, Judith, whose father was unknown[2] and who later married mason Otis Pierce. William Finch died at an unknown time; Ruby is known to have been widowed at the time of her death in New Bedford from a tumor. It appears at the time that she was living with her widowed mother.[1] Her death record indicates that she was buried in Westport.[2]

For many years, the only works known by Finch, besides the Kirby family register, were a series of half- and full-length portraits as well as two serial illustrations of the parable of the Prodigal Son. All are in watercolor, and evince a willingness to experiment; her portraits, especially, are distinguished by their individualistic details of costume and physical characteristics. She valued decorative qualities, and tended to avoid repetition; even repeated motifs are delineated by their varied poses. Her portraits incorporate plinths among their compositional devices.[1] More recently, four more drawings were discovered among the effects from two former Devol family farms; also discovered was the only known photograph of Finch, taken six years before her death.[2] Most of her work appears to have been produced to commemorate marriages or deaths, among other such personal occasions. Finch appears to have been accepted by her neighbors as a community artist, and many of her pieces depict neighbors and friends.[3]

Finch's depiction of the tale of The Prodigal Son, dated c. 1830–1835, is owned by the American Folk Art Museum.[4] The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum owns her double portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Elijah Robinson.[5] The Westport Historical Society owns her photograph and her portrait of Ann Potter.[3] The New Bedford Whaling Museum owns her portraits of Sally Allen and Tillinghast Tripp.