Lot Essay
La Farge stayed at Viala on the island of Upolu in Samoa from November 1890-January 1891. The date inscribed on this work ("Jany 1890") clearly is an error, and should read 1891.
The first owner of the work, Hester Bancroft Adlercron, was the daughter of La Farge's friend and patron, John Chandler Bancroft. After the artist's death in 1910, she purchased several watercolors in Boston, presumably from Vose Gallery which represented La Farge's estate in that city. Her daughter, Patsy Adlercron, noted that this was one of the pictures purchased in this manner in a letter to Henry La Farge written in 1934.
The first owner of the work, Hester Bancroft Adlercron, was the daughter of La Farge's friend and patron, John Chandler Bancroft. After the artist's death in 1910, she purchased several watercolors in Boston, presumably from Vose Gallery which represented La Farge's estate in that city. Her daughter, Patsy Adlercron, noted that this was one of the pictures purchased in this manner in a letter to Henry La Farge written in 1934.