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Maine Antique Digest, April 2017 33-D
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33-D
John James Audubon painted
View of Natchez
in 1823 while he
was in Natchez to paint birds for his
Birds of America
project.
The 29
⅜
" x 48
⅜
" oil on canvas has been well documented
and is the only landscape painting by the naturalist. It
is historically significant as a document of life along the
Mississippi. Adelson Galleries, New York City, asked $5 million
for it. Audubon spent a total of 19 months in Natchez, and
while there he painted over 30 birds for his
Birds of America
project. Audubon was commissioned by a Mrs. Griffith of
Natchez to paint the scene, but she died before the painting
was completed. The view is from a bluff overlooking the
Mississippi River, and in the center are two figures painting,
possibly depicting Audubon and his son Victor. The painting
has a surprising history. It has been owned by several families
in Natchez. When Audubon left for New Orleans, he left the
painting with Henry and Samuel Postlethwaite, brothers who
ran a general store. They finally sold it in 1825 to the French
silversmith Louis Emile Gustave Profilet (1801-1868), who
took it to France to show his relatives where he lived. The
painting remained in France until 1855 when Profilet returned
to Natchez. His son sold the painting to George Malin Davis of
Natchez, and it descended in that family until the present day.
Adelson Galleries photo.
Arader Galleries, New York City, offered George Beck’s earliest views of Georgetown. Left:
The View of Georgetown
and the City of Washington
, 1795, 15¼" x 20½", was $375,000. Right:
A North View of the City of Washington
, 1795-
98, 15" x 19½", was $200,000. Both are gouache and watercolor on paper. Beck (1749-1812) immigrated to the U.S.,
landing in Norfolk, and he spent time in Baltimore before moving in the late 1790s to Philadelphia, where William
Hamilton commissioned a painting of The Woodlands, the Hamilton house in Philadelphia. Later he spent time
in Cincinnati and then moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where his wife opened a girls school and he opened a boys
school. He remained in Lexington until his death in 1812. He has sometimes been called the first landscape painter
to work in the United States. George Washington purchased at least two views of the Potomac River by Beck.
Jonathan Boos of New York City asked $675,000
for
Spirit of ’76
by Archibald Willard (1836-1918).
The 24" x 18" oil on canvas is signed lower right.
It is thought to be Willard’s initial composition
done circa 1875. It was shipped to Buffalo for
chromolithographic reproduction. Willard painted
a larger version, 10' x 8', for the 1876 Centennial
International Exhibition in Philadelphia. It
now hangs at Abbott Hall in Marblehead,
Massachusetts. Originally called
Yankee Doodle
, it
was given the title
Spirit of ’76
when it toured the
country. Willard painted several different versions
of the work. Preliminary sketches depict a Fourth
of July parade; however, following the death of his
father, the model for the drummer in the center,
Willard took a more reverent approach. The
patriotism appealed to the public.
Harry S. Newman of The Old Print Shop, New York City, sold
a panoramic view of Boston harbor and part of Charlestown
with Bunker Hill done by George Heriot (1759-1839) on June
15, 1815. It was priced at $75,000. It is 7
⅜
" x 114½". Heriot
was the deputy postmaster general of British North America
and the author of
The History of Canada from Its First
Discovery
(1804) and
Travels through the Canadas
(1807).
A pair of Galloway stoneware urns (one shown), made in Philadelphia, circa 1915, 54" high
x 22" wide x 21" deep, was priced at $17,500 by Barbara Israel Garden Antiques, Katonah,
New York. Established in 1810, Galloway was the leading manufacturer of terra cotta
throughout the 19th century and won prizes at world’s fairs in 1876, 1893, and 1904. The
company was founded by William Galloway, who was later joined by John Graff from 1868
to 1889. Galloway produced a wide range of decorative objects. The vases are a copy of the
Townley Roman marble vase discovered in 1773 by Gavin Hamilton, a Scottish antiquities
dealer, that was named for Charles Townley, who purchased it from Hamilton.
Off Atlantic City
,
NJ
, 20" x 36", oil on canvas, by William H.
Willcox (1831-1919), signed and dated 1874, was $35,000 from
Schwarz Gallery, Philadelphia. It is inscribed on the reverse,
“Off Atlantic City / WH Willcox / PHIL 1874.” Willcox moved
from Brooklyn to Philadelphia in 1850, lived in Germantown,
and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from
1852 to 1868 and from 1880 to 1917. His style is similar to that of
his friend William Trost Richards, and the two artists frequently
worked together. Schwarz Gallery photo.
Gerald Peters Gallery, New York City, asked $450,000 for
Studio
Window
, 1966, by Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), watercolor on
paper, signed lower left, 21¼" x 30¾", in a contemporary frame.
This large (32¼" x 38¼") silk embroidered memorial was
worked by Sarah Kuhn at age 19. It depicts three figures
dressed in mourning costume. The figures probably represent
Sarah and her parents. The plinth is inscribed “In Memory
of Daniel Kuhn who died Oct. 23d.
1810 AEt 7 years.” Sarah, who lived
on Cambridge Street in Boston, was
the oldest of ten children born to
John Kuhn and Sarah Lapham. She
completed this elaborate memorial
to her younger brother in 1812, two
years after his death. She also was
married the same year to George
Fuller, and they had eight children.
The silk and watercolor on silk was
$22,000 from Stephen and Carol
Huber of Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
Huber photo.
The silver camp cups
by Joseph Anthony,
Philadelphia, were $6500;
the Philadelphia silver
creamer by Joseph and
Nathaniel Richardson
was $12,500 from S.J.
Shrubsole, New York City.