JOHN LA FARGE (1835-1910)

Details
JOHN LA FARGE (1835-1910)

Adoring Angel: Study for the Ascension Mural

signed La Farge, dated '87 and inscribed Study for Adoring Angel, Lower left hand group, Painting in Church of the Ascension, Study no 312, l.r.--watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper
27 1/2 x 20 1/2 in. (70 x 52 cm.)
Provenance
Russell Sturgis, New York
Literature
"John La Farge," New York Daily Graphic, Feb. 15, 1889, pp. 789-790, illus.
Exhibited
New York, Architectural League of New York, The Third Annual Exhibition of the Architectural League of New York at the Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, Dec. 1987-Jan. 1988
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Fifty-Eighth Annual Exhibition, Feb.-March 1888
New York, Architectural League of New York, Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Architectural League of New York at the Fifth Avenue Galleries, Dec. 1891-Jan. 1892

Lot Essay

According to James L. Yarnall in a letter dated December 23, 1991, this work is a long-lost watercolor which was recorded in the collection of La Farge's friend, the architect and editor Russell Sturgis. Sturgis, an architect by training, had been friendly with the artist since the 1870s. Beginning in 1879, La Farge helped Sturgis purchase drawings and watercolors from his inventory that he felt to be particularly important. After 1890, when he became an editor for Scribner's Magazine, Sturgis provided La Farge with numerous opportunities to publish art criticism and theory.

La Farge painted the mural in New York's Church of the Ascension between 1886-1888 after he returned from a trip to Japan. This work will be included in the forthcoming publication by Yale University Press of the late Henry La Farge, completed by James L. Yarnall and Mary A. La Farge. A copy of Yarnall's letter accompanies the lot.