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A young boy peeks in from behind foliage on the right, watching a seated man reading something.

The leafy garden-like scene is depicted in deep rich earth-tone colors. We see the boy in profile, his face and left arm are illuminated from the top. The seated man is painted in a darker shadowed area, with less definition than the boy. He’s seated near the center facing left and is engaged in reading a book or tablet, unaware of the boy. Both people wear loose robes. There’s a suggestion of deep red flowers painted in the lower left corner.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1937.31
People
John La Farge, American (New York, NY 1835 - 1910 Providence, RI)
Title
Virgil
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1874
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/230909

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on linen canvas
Dimensions
107 x 81.6 cm (42 1/8 x 32 1/8 in.)
framed: 135.9 x 112.4 x 7.6 cm (53 1/2 x 44 1/4 x 3 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Sale of the artist to Ortgies and Co., New York, 1884; their sale to Thomas Benedict Clarke, New York; his sale through Ortgies and Co., New York, to Robert Hoe, New York, 1886; his sale through the American Art Association, New York, to Knoedler and Co., New York, 1911; their sale to Grace Edith Barnes, New York, 1914; her sale to Mrs. William H. Bliss, New York, 1914; her gift to her son, Robert Woods Bliss, New York, 1936.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of The Honorable and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss
Accession Year
1937
Object Number
1937.31
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • "Art Babble", New York News Letter (New York, NY, April 20, 1884)
  • "Fine Arts", The New York Herald (New York, NY, April 18, 1884), p. 10
  • The John La Farge Collection, Oil and Water Colors, exh. cat., Ortgies & Co. (New York, 1884), no. 29
  • Illustrated Catalogue...of Art Property... Collected by the Late Robert Hoe of New York, auct. cat., American Art Galleries (New York, NY, February 15, 1911)
  • Josephine L. Allen, "Exhibition of the Work of John La Farge", The Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY, April 1936), vol. XXXI, no. 4, pp. 74-78, p. 77
  • Ann Hamilton Sayre, "The Complete Work of John La Farge at the Metropolitan", Art News (March 28, 1936), pp. 5-6, 12, p. 28
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, An Exhibition of the Work of John La Farge, exh. cat., Blanchard Press, Inc. (New York, NY, 1936), no. 20, reproduced
  • James L. Yarnall, "Nature and Art in the Painting of John LaFarge", John LaFarge, Abbeville Press (New York, NY, 1987), fig. 67, p. 98, reproduced in b/w
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Virginia Anderson, and Kimberly Orcutt, ed., American Paintings at Harvard, Volume Two, Paintings, Drawings, Pastels and Stained Glass by Artists Born 1826-1856, Harvard Art Museums and Yale University Press (U.S.) (Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT, 2008), p. 189, cat. no. 146, reproduced in color

Exhibition History

  • [John La Farge exhibition], Leonard's Gallery, Boston, 01/01/1879 - 12/31/1879
  • Unidentified Exhibition, American Art Galleries, 1883, American Art Galleries, 01/01/1883 - 12/31/1883
  • Hoe Collection, American Art Galleries, 02/16/1918 - 02/17/1918
  • An Exhibition of the Work of John La Farge, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 03/23/1936 - 04/26/1936

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu