Driscoll Babcock Galleries at the Philadelphia Antiques & Art Show by Driscoll Babcock

Driscoll Babcock Galleries at the

Philadelphia Antiques & Art Show

April 26-28, 2019

PHILADELPHIA ANTIQUES & ART SHOW April 26-28, 2019

Established 1852 22 East 80th Street New York, NY 10075 2

John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) MRS. JOHN SCOLLAY (MERCY GREENLEAF), 1763 Oil on canvas, 35 Âź x 28 inches Signed and dated lower left: J.S. Copley. Pinx. 1763

This Pre-Revolution American portrait of the prominent Boston matriarch, Mrs. John Scollay (Mercy Greenleaf), was commissioned from Copley, by her husband, John Scollay, a prominent businessman, a chairman of the Boston Selectmen, a member of the Sons of Liberty, and a friend of Samuel Adams and John Warren, the Revolutionary War hero killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Mercy was a daughter of a minister, Reverend Daniel Greenleaf and his wife, Elizabeth Gookin. Scollay Square in Boston would be named for this family. This is a classic Copley American portrayal in which Mrs. Scollay is presented as an intelligent and forceful woman of the Age of Enlightenment. Her refined dress and thoughtful pose suggest a woman very much in tune with the changing world and perhaps secure in the knowledge of revolutionary struggles about to be unleashed across Europe and the American continent. The painting retains what appears to be its original hand carved frame. A related pastel portrait of Mrs. Scollay is in the collection of Harvard Art Museums and a pastel of Mr. Scollay, perhaps preparatory for an unlocated oil painting, is in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy. This painting descended for 220 years through the Scollay family and is well considered in the John Singleton Copley literature by such major scholars as Barbara Neville Parker, Anne Bolling Wheeler, Jules Prown, Carrie Rebora Barratt, Paul Staiti, Erica Hirshler, Theodore Stebbins Jr., and Carol Troyen.

Robert Seldon Duncanson (1821-1872) LONG POINT ON THE GAULEY RIVER, VA (SUMMERVILLE, WV), c. 1848-49 Oil on wood panel, 17 ¼ x 23 ½ inches Signed and dated right verso: H(indistinct). R.S.D. 184…

LONG POINT ON THE GAULEY RIVER manifests the vigorous brushwork, refined color and classic compositional design that characterize Duncanson’s finest landscape works. It is a “unique and interesting Duncanson painting” as noted by Dr. Joseph Ketner in 2017. It is likely that this painting was done directly from nature. It is important to note that site specific paintings by Duncanson at this time are quite scarce. The painting’s composition, the treatment of the rocky cliff, and the foliage in the fore and middle grounds are significant parallels with other top-rate early works by the artist to which this painting is clearly related, including THE QUARRY (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts) and ROBBING THE EAGLE’S NEST (SNMAAHC).

Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880) LAKE GEORGE FROM NEAR SABBATH DAY POINT, c. 1849-50 Oil on canvas laid on paperboard, 10 ⅝ x 14 ¾ inches Inscription on verso: “Sanford R. Gifford (Hudsonian School) / Present from Mrs. Robert Wilkinson (neé Cornelia Maurice) Poughkeepsie, N.Y.”

This painting has an unbroken provenance in the Gifford family, going back to the artist when he gifted the work to his sister. It is accompanied by a scholarly letter discussing the site-specific subject and the authenticity of the painting by Kevin J. Avery. The subject of this painting, Lake George, is one of the most iconic in all of Hudson River School painting. This painting, accomplished while Gifford was still in his twenties, demonstrates his formidable technical and stylistic abilities in rendering both the details of the scene as well as the characteristics of light, of time of day.

Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880) A PATH IN THE MOUNTAINS, c. 1860-65 Oil on canvas, laid on paper, 10 ⅜ x 7 ⅜ inches Initialed lower right: SRG

This richly painted oil painting of a forest interior in the Catskill mountains has an unbroken provenance in the Gifford family, going back to the artist when he gifted the work to his sister. It is accompanied by a scholarly letter discussing the site-specific subject and the authenticity of the painting by Kevin J. Avery. A PATH IN THE MOUNTAINS is a jewel-like example of the artist’s masterful interpretation of elements of nature and depicts an intimate sketch of which was one of Gifford’s favorite and most celebrated subjects.

Francesca Alexander (1837-1917) JULIA BENSON, 1852 Ink on paper, 5 ⅛ x 4 ¾ inches Titled and dated lower left: Julia Benson / August 1852

Francesca Alexander was an American illustrator and author whose work was widely collected by the prominent English artist, John Ruskin. JULIA BENSON comes from a sketchbook which was made when the artist was just fifteen years old, around the same age as her subject. The sketchbook included numerous portraits of visitors to Alexander’s house, including school mates and servants. The intimate drawing suggests closeness between the two girls.

John Frederick Kensett (1816-1872) NIAGARA FALLS, c.1852 Oil on canvas laid on panel, 13 Âź x 22 inches

The painting retains its original frame selected for the painting on the occasion of the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s estate sale. Even when Kensett painted Niagara Falls, the natural wonder that had fascinated countless visitors with its awesome size, irresistible force, and deafening roar, in this exceptional example he portrayed the powerful cataract as an integral part of the larger universe.

Severin Roesen (c. 1815-1872) STILL LIFE OF FLOWERS IN A GLASS VASE ON A MARBLE LEDGE, c. 1865 Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches Signed lower center in tendrils

This painting retains its original frame, and is recorded in Judith O’Toole’s monograph on the artist.

Jervis McEntee (1828-1891) LAKE PLACID LOOKING AT WHITE FACE MOUNTAIN, c. 1865 Oil on canvas, 13 x 23 inches Initialed and inscribed NA lower left

McEntee loved the vibrant colors of America’s autumn season. This might well be expected of an artist influenced by Church and Gifford, but McEntee brought his own compositional flare and technical assurance to bear in the creation of some very subtle and beautiful landscape paintings. Where McEntee’s contemporaries tended to focus on panorama views in peak autumnal colors, McEntee more often depicted “interior landscapes” in late fall or early winter. The end result is “intimate views of the natural world, especially in the area near his home in Rondout, NY.” The scene here is no exception; with mist and clouds rising off the lake and mountain, McEntee shows a quiet moment of solitude, as if he came upon the scene while walking one overcast day. The water is still, the trees envelop the shoreline, a group of ducks take flight, and a beautiful snow-capped mountain stands in the background. Everything is peaceful, resting, and seemingly as it should be in the quiet story this painting tells.

Winslow Homer (1836-1910) COMING THROUGH THE RYE, 1867 Oil on canvas, 16 ¾ x 11 ½ inches Signed and inscribed lower right: Homer/Paris 1867 This painting resulted from Homer’s 11-month trip to Paris in 1867. It breaks from his previous work and is perhaps the most fully developed and symbolically rich picture of that time. Here he painted a singular and stunning work, abandoning the earth tones and fluid forms of the Barbizon masters, and focused upon brilliant, almost impressionist colors applied with a broad brush. His subject of an affluent, attractive and introspective girl, painted in the bright light of mid-day, possesses an intellectual and emotional strength that conveyed visually to contemporary viewers the symbolic suggestions of Robert Burns’ poem referenced in the title.

John William Hill (1812-1879) THREE APPLES, c. 1867 Watercolor on paper, 4 ¾ x 7 ¼ inches Signed lower right: J. W. Hill

John William Hill was a superb American watercolorist. He is noted for his fluent technical achievement and the resultant fidelity to nature that characterizes his work. Hill was a leader of the American Pre-Raphaelite movement, artists who followed the principle of adhering to “truth to nature” originally advocated by the influential English art critic John Ruskin. They focused on creating highly detailed, meticulous still lifes and landscapes which celebrated the nature they observed (as opposed to “sublime” or “imagined” nature). Hill’s interest in Ruskin’s beliefs is most pronounced in his realistic still life paintings. Hill’s best period of work dates approximately 1860-1870, and in THREE APPLES his considerable artist talents are on full display. With delicately stippled brushwork, Hill renders compositional details which faithfully articulate Ruskin’s belief that God is manifest in all of nature’s forms, both big and small. The triumvirate of apples are carefully arranged and composed, glorifying the natural and simple beauty of the subject matter.

Charles H. Moore (1840-1930) MT. WASHINGTON FROM CONWAY VALLEY, c. 1872 Watercolor on paper, 11 ¼ x 16 ½ inches

This watercolor is in Moore’s finest Pre-Raphaelite technique and style. It is the greatest possible subject matter: Mount Washington and the Conway Valley, and, it is of unusually large size for his work, for any PreRaphaelite work. It is a Moore masterpiece, and a masterpiece of PreRaphaelite painting in America. The watercolor was purchased from an Estate that also included Thomas Cole’s THE CATSKILL MOUNTAIN HOUSE now in the collection of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (1847, graphite with china white highlighting, 9 ¾ x 13 7/8 inches) and John William Hill’s GENTIANS now in the collection of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (1870, watercolor on paper). The collector who previously owned this Charles Herbert Moore watercolor had a specialty in exceptional works on paper.

Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917) LANSCAPE - WOMAN AND CHILD, c. 1875 Oil on board, 9 ⅜ x 9 ⅜ inches

An exceedingly rare autograph painting by Ryder accompanied by its original Cottier & Co. bill of sale to Harris Whittemore in 1892.

Charles Sprague Pearce (1851-1914) MOMENT DE TRISTESSE, 1882 Oil on canvas, 21 ½ x 29 inches Sighed lower left: “Charles Sprague Pearce / Paris”

MOMENT DE TRISTESSE descended as a gift from the Vanderbilt estate in the 1920’s. It is very likely that the Vanderbilt family acquired the painting directly from Pearce. This painting manifests in a very clear way all the most desired elements in the artist’s work: the palette, artistic brushwork and subject matter.

William Michael Harnett (1848-1892) STILL LIFE WITH TANKARD, 1885 Oil on panel, 16 ½ x 21 inches Signed with initials in monogram and dated lower right: WMHarnett 1885

This painting’s last appearance at auction was in 1996, when it set a world record price for the artist at auction. The notable Harnett Scholar Alfred Frankenstein, wrote that STILL LIFE WITH TANKARD “sums up what [Harnett] learned abroad: the compositional formulas of the old Dutch masters…, a certain miniaturism…, and considerable elegance in subject matter. This last trait [elegance] we have not had occasion to point out earlier…, but it is very important.” In short, Frankenstein recognized the complete and compelling success that Harnett brought to bear in creating not only a brilliant trompe l’oeil painting, but a painting that embodies a sense of grace, style and elegance not often encountered in Harnett’s other work. That elegance comes from Harnett’s superb technical skill, his concentration on deriving greater expressive power from objects arranged in a compelling compositional design, and from the self-confidence of an artist who feels fully in command of his technical, stylistic and aesthetic tools.

Laura Woodward (1834-1926) STREET IN ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, c. 1889 Watercolor on paper, 9 ⅞ x 7 inches

Considered one of the best women artists of the 19th century, Laura Woodward was a talent of the Hudson River School who also found inspiration in the Floridian landscape. When Woodward started her career in New York, she was living and working in the city, and painting mountain and coastal scenes along the east coast and found great success as an artist. In the 1870s, her work was exhibited at the National Academy of Design, Brooklyn Art Association, and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In the 1880s Woodward moved to St. Augustine, Florida. Woodward frequently would execute preliminary watercolor sketches around the state and return home to St. Augustine to produce the final work. Woodward’s talent did not go unnoticed in Florida. For her depictions of the Royal Poinciana tree, the media of the time “determined she should be ‘adopted by the entire state’ of Florida due to the way she publicized its natural beauties.” Woodward not only caught the media’s attention, but also that of many society figures of the time, chief among them, Henry Flagler, railroad tycoon, real estate developer, and co-founder of Standard Oil Company. In fact, Woodward’s association with Flagler is said to be largely responsible for his development of Palm Beach; after having conducted the field research for her own work, she convinced him of the potential the city could have, ultimately resulting in the resort town that we know today.

Robert Spear Dunning (1829-1905) STILL LIFE WITH FRUIT, 1889 Oil on canvas, 12 x 16 inches Signed and dated lower right: R. S. Dunning 1889 Signed and dated on verso: R. S. Dunning Painter 1889

This painting retains its original frame.

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) LES GRANDS BAIGNEURS (THE LARGE BATHERS), 1896- c. 1898 Color lithograph, image 16 ¼ x 20 ⅛ on full sheet of untrimmed paper Signature imprinted within the plate lower right: Cezanne Signed and Inscribed in margin along bottom: Tirage à cent exemplaires no. | P. Cézanne

This lithograph was made for the dealer Ambroise Vollard, who asked a number of artists who were not engravers by profession to make engravings for publication and published two large albums of miscellaneous prints under the titles Les Peintres-Graveurs and La Deuxième Année de l’Album d’Estampes originales de la Galerie Vollard. In both cases the edition was limited to 100. The first album, issued in July 1896, contained twenty-two etchings, woodcuts and lithographs by Bonnard, Denis, Fantin-Latour, Renoir, Vuillard and others. The second, published in December 1897, comprised thirty-two prints, including a color lithograph by Cézanne of a small composition of bathers (Venturi No.1156). LES GRANDS BAIGNEURS was intended for inclusion in a third album, together with Cézanne’s only other lithograph subject, a selfportrait (Venturi No. 1158), but this album was never published. Our print here is the second of three states, printed in colors and bearing the edition inscription and signature of the artist – in the stone – lower right. There is also a signature of the artist in the image, lower right. The first state is printed only in black, and the third was printed without the inscription at lower right.

Marsden Hartley (1877-1943) AUTUMN IMPRESSIONAL, c. 1906-08 Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches

AUTUMN IMPRESSIONAL, superbly painted with a vigorously searching brush stroke, a tight compression of space, and inventive compositional organization, is not only one of the masterpieces of this early period, it is a harbinger of Hartley’s tightly composed, planar compositions that would find mature expression in the years ahead. It survives in an excellent state of preservation, retains its original frame and stands as one of the supreme masterpieces of Hartley’s early Maine series. Hilton Kramer wrote of AUTUMN IMPRESSIONAL that it “is a marvelous Maine landscape,” Gail Levin recognized it as a wonderful, very early example of the well known Maine series, while Townsend Ludington noted that in this composition Hartley’s “mastery of the stitch stroke…is fully evident, as is the planar description of space, which would characterize his work for the next twelve years.” Gail Scott has written that this painting is a “scintillating work…pre-eminent among [Hartley’s] mountain paintings…and…among the most glorious of the early Maine mountain paintings.”

Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872-1930) THE PINK DRESS, c. 1912 Oil on canvas laid over artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s board, 30 x 25 inches Signed upper left / Inscribed with title thrice on verso

THE PINK DRESS has an unbroken provenance within the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family.

Arthur B. Davies (1862-1928) PILLARS OF IALYSOS Bronze, 5 ⅛ x 5 inches

Arthur B. Davies (1862-1928) PORTRAIT HEAD Bronze, 5 ¼ x 3 ½ inches

Samuel Halpert (1884-1930) PEOPLE IN THE PARK - NEW YORK CITY, c. 1916-1918 Oil on canvas, 25 x 30 inches Signed lower left Inscribed on verso: Goldbergs Park

For Halpert, this superb modernist New York City park scene seems to document a treasured place from his life; the painting’s verso is inscribed, presumably in the artist’s hand, to say “Goldberg’s Park,” a familiar name for only those who would know it.

Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872-1930) LYNMOUTH CLIFFS, 1929 Watercolor on paper, 14 ¼ x 20 ⅛ inches Signed lower left: C W Hawthorne

Estate of the Artist #154, and was exhibited at the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. in 1983.

Marsden Hartley (1877-1943) THE LIGHTHOUSE #3, 1940 Charcoal on paper, 22 x 28 inches

This large-scale charcoal drawing is a study for monumental Mainesubject THE LIGHTHOUSE (1940-1941, oil on Masonite, 30 x 40 â&#x2026;&#x203A; inches), at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is also related to another charcoal study for the same painting, now in the collection of the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, NY.

Charles Sheeler (1883-1965) BEECH TREE, 1951 Vintage silver gelatin print, 8 x 5 ½ inches Signed, dated and dedicated:“To Flossie and Bill from the Sheeler’s/C.S. 1951.” [Flossie and Bill were Dr. and Mrs. William Carlos Williams. William Carlos Williams was one of the major modern American poets and a close friend of Sheeler’s for 40 years.]

The friendship between Sheeler and the great American poet William Carlos Williams had begun in the early 1920’s and soon after, Williams acquired Sheeler’s STILL LIFE WITH ETRUSCAN VASE. Their friendship lasted throughout their lives and this photograph, with its historic inscription, provides insight to their long friendship, and it exhibits Sheeler’s exploration of the photographic medium’s expressive possibilities. The photograph was printed, mounted, signed and inscribed by Sheeler.

Mark Tobey (1890-1976) UNTITLED, 1966 Tempera on paper, 4 ⅛ x 5 ⅞ inches Signed and dated lower right: Tobey 66

Mark Tobey was one of the best known and internationally respected artists during the 1950s and 1960s and continues to be a leading figure of 20th century American art. Tobey’s techniques and methods evidence his interest in the unity of the image, rather than its separate parts, as he often created complex, all-over compositions with no central focal point. Tobey was influenced by textiles, script, and pictographs, as well as the structures and patterns in our contemporary urban and natural worlds. UNITITLED, 1966, created in the same year as an exhibition of the artist’s work at Willard Gallery, is a prime example of the “white-writing” technique for which Tobey is most known. The white tempera, painted amidst large strokes of red, blue, and green swirling forms, connotes calligraphic script, dynamic movement, and sweeping light. This work exemplifies Tobey’s career-long interest in calligraphy and mysticism, and is a visual manifestation of the interrelationship between man and the universe.

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Cover image: William Michael Harnett (1848-1892), STILL LIFE WITH TANKARD, 1885, Oil on panel, 16 Â˝ x 21 inches (detail). 55