[ Autographs ] ULYSSES S. GRANT (1822 - 1885) Eighteenth President ofthe United States and Union Lieutenant General. An astounding rarity,a scenic water-color painting with ironclad provenance, executed by Grant while he was a cadet at West Point, and signed by him "U. H. Grant" at lower-right. The painting is matted to 16.5in x 11" and depicts an idyllic river scene, perhaps the Hudson, showing two figures and a large tree in the foreground, with the river, plains andlarge hills in the far background. Grant has penned his early signature in dark brown ink at the lower-right. A very lightly-toned vertical bar appears at center but barely detracts, if at all. Set in what appears to be an original mat and (chipped) gold frame. The painting has a sterling provenance: it was purchased at Skinner Auction in Boston in November 1999, where it had been consigned by Louise E. Rothery of Salem, Mass. The painting had resided in her family's possession since it was given by Grant to her great-great grandmother Kate Lowe in 1842. Miss Rothery's great-aunt was author Agnes Rothery who documented the gift of the painting in her book Family Album. She notes (with much additional detail) that the two first met on a canal boat in 1842 when Grant visited Lowe in Cincinnati that summer and made the painting a gift to her. According to Rothery, Grant's memoirs also mention the seflsame trip. Lowe is also mentioned in Hamlin Garland's Ulysses S. Grant His Life and Character, Doubleday & McClure, New York, 1898, and our painting is illustrated and ownership is credited to "Mrs. Rothery" in that book. Garland's description of events closely matches Lowe's. Copies of all provenance accompany the lot. This is an incredibly rare find - only one other Grant painting is known to exist, and it presently resides at West Point.