John La Farge
Sleep, 1884-1885
Watercolor on paper
8 in. x 6 1/2 in. (2032. cm x 16.51 cm)
The Lunder Collection
Accession Number: 011.2011
Colby College Museum of Art
The
Glessners were avid collectors of steel engravings but did acquire a small
number of paintings and drawings to decorate their home. John Glessner, in his The Story of a House
written in 1923, noted that they possessed a painting by John La Farge, but little
was known about it, as it is not currently in the Glessner House collection.
John La
Farge (1835-1910) was an American painter and stained-glass designer who
enjoyed a considerable reputation throughout the last decades of the 19th
century. Although largely remembered for
his stained-glass work and rivalry with Louis Comfort Tiffany, he produced a
significant number of easel paintings and murals during his career. His extensive decoration of Trinity Church in
Boston, designed by H. H. Richardson, gave him a national reputation, and the
Glessners saw his murals and stained-glass windows while visiting the church
with Richardson in 1885. La Farge was
also among the first American artists to be directly influenced by Japanese
prints. The Glessners had two books by
La Farge in their library, Considerations on Painting: Lectures Given in the
Year 1893 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1896), and An Artist’s
Letters from Japan (1897).
Frances
Glessner provided clues about the painting and its acquisition in her
journal. On June 26, 1887, she noted:
“Today we
have enjoyed looking at twelve of La Farge’s water colors sent to us by
Wunderlich.”
H.
Wunderlich & Co. was a New York gallery founded by Hermann Wunderlich in
1874. It dealt mostly in prints as well
as the works of selected contemporary artists including James McNeil
Whistler. Frances Glessner first noted
visiting Wunderlich in October 1883 when she went to see a collection of fifty
etchings by Whistler. In March 1885,
Wunderlich sent several engravings to the Glessners for review. They purchased three, including two “Dutch
Admirals” they had been anxious to acquire for quite some time. During a trip to New York in February 1886,
they visited the gallery again, so clearly had developed a relationship with
the owner.
The most
significant clue to the identity of the painting is revealed in a journal entry
from May 4, 1892, which recounts a visit by John La Farge to the Glessner home:
“Mr. Norman
Williams brought the great John La Farge to call on me and see the house. He was much astonished to find his painting
of the sleeping woman here – he didn’t know it was even in Chicago. He was delightful and I greatly enjoyed the
call. Mr. Williams told me in confidence
that Mr. La Farge is to make a stained-glass window to the memory of John
Crerar to put in the Second (Presbyterian) Church.” (The large rose window was installed in 1893
but was lost in a March 1900 fire that destroyed the sanctuary).
La Farge's watercolor study for the Ascension window at Second Presbyterian Church
Taking
Frances Glessner’s description of the work as depicting a sleeping woman, an
internet search uncovered a La Farge painting entitled Sleep, now in the
collection of the Colby College Museum of Art.
With an image in hand, it was possible to locate the historic location
of the painting in the house. It was
revealed that the painting hung over the south music cabinet in the parlor, and
appears in the earliest photos taken in 1888, and later photos taken in 1923
for The Story of a House.
Glessner parlor, 1888 (Sleep at left, centered over music cabinet)
Detail of Glessner parlor, 1923, Sleep at upper center
Another
photo provided a valuable clue. A
descendant of the Glessners’ son George donated a photograph of George and
Alice Glessner’s home, The Ledge, at The Rocks in Bethlehem, New
Hampshire. Taken about 1940, by which
time Alice was a widow, the La Farge painting can clearly be seen on the wall
behind her over a table lamp, confirming that the painting went to her when the
Prairie Avenue house was broken up following John Glessner’s death in January
1936.
The Ledge, home of George and Alice Glessner, The Rocks, Bethlehem, New Hampshire
Sleep shown at left above table lamp
Sleep shown at left above table lamp
In March
2011, the painting was placed for auction with Christie’s in New York. It was acquired by collectors Peter and Paula
Crane Lunder, who gifted it to Colby College, along with seven other La Farge
watercolors and two oils, part of a huge donation of more than 500 works of art
given to the Art Museum. In July 2019,
the Museum graciously provided Glessner House with a high-resolution scan of
the artwork, so that it could be framed and hung in the same location in the
parlor where the original hung for nearly fifty years.
The
watercolor on paper, executed in 1884 or 1885, measures just 6.5” x 8” and is
based on an oil painting (now destroyed) John La Farge completed in 1869
depicting his wife. Exhibition records
indicate the watercolor was exhibited at least three times in 1886 and 1887,
prior to the Glessners’ acquisition of the piece. As noted on the Colby College Museum of Art
website:
“Intimate in
scale and private in mood, the watercolor Sleep combines realistic
representation with decorative arrangement.
The artist’s wife, Margaret Mason Perry, is shown reclining in a
shallow, interior space, her limp arms and gracefully turned head suggesting
complete repose. Repeated patterns and
soft washes of color connect the figure with the surrounding space.”
John La Farge
Sleep, 1884-1885
Watercolor on paper
8 in. x 6 1/2 in. (2032. cm x 16.51 cm)
The Lunder Collection
Accession Number: 011.2011
Colby College Museum of Art
This full image shows the artist's brush wipe marks and signature
that are concealed by the mat when framed.
We are
delighted to have Sleep return to the Glessner House parlor, so that
visitors can enjoy La Farge’s work of art, just as guests of the Glessners did
for half a century. Special thanks to
the staff at the Colby College Museum of Art for their assistance in making
this project possible.
The reproduction of John LaFarge's Sleep as reinstalled in the
Glessner House parlor on August 2, 2019.
Glessner House parlor on August 2, 2019.