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Full figure of a person standing dressed in robes, holding a long white lily stem in both hands.

The fair skinned figure stands majestically in front of us, slightly turned to the left, three-quarter face is turned to the left, eyes looking out to the left. The hair is golden with a flame-like object painted on the top of the forehead in the part of the hair. Illumination comes from the upper left. The figure wears bright red and yellow robes, holding a lily stem over the right shoulder. The watercolor is rendered in saturated colors. The background is a loosely defined landscape of green ground, lots of blue sky, and some clouds.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.306
People
John La Farge, American (New York, NY 1835 - 1910 Providence, RI)
Title
Figure Holding a Lily, Study for Window, Presbyterian Church of Sewickley, PA (Easter Lilies)
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Easter Lilies
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1900
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/307938

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor and gouache over graphite on off-white wove paper mounted on board
Dimensions
36.8 x 23.8 cm (14 1/2 x 9 3/8 in.)
mount: 43.4 x 31.4 cm (17 1/16 x 12 3/8 in.)
Border drawn around image: 25.4 x 13.8 cm (10 x 5 7/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: graphite, l.r.: JLF / 1900
  • exhibition label: removed from old mount, now in curatorial file, paper, printed, typed, handwritten: Exhibition no. 33
  • gallery label: removed from old mount, now in curatorial file, paper, printed and handwritten: William Macbeth, 450 Fifth Avenue, New York
  • stamp: removed from old mount, now in curatorial file, ink and graphite, stamped and handwritten: [stamped:] WM [written in graphite:] 6702

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Macbeth Gallery, New York, by 1910; purchased from them by Charles K. Fox, Haverhill, MA; his bequest (?) to Mrs. W. Freeman, 1912; her sale to Macbeth Gallery, 1941; their sale through Martin Birnbaum of Scott and Fowles, New York, 1941; purchased by Grenville L. Winthrop, New York; his bequest to the Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.306
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • Henry A. La Farge, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of John La Farge, Unpublished (n.d.), card 560
  • "La Farge's Pictures at Rowland's Galleries", Boston Evening Transcript (Boston, MA, March 10, 1905), p. 10, p. 10
  • 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. 209-210, cat. no. 160, reproduced in b&w

Exhibition History

  • Exhibition of Paintings by John La Farge, Walter Rowlands Gallery, Boston, 03/01/1905 - 03/31/1905
  • Religious Art by Contemporary American Artists, Roerich Museum, New York, 12/05/1931 - 12/31/1931

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