Willard Leroy Metcalf (1858-1925)

First Sketch for 'White Mantle'

Details

Willard Leroy Metcalf (1858-1925)
First Sketch for 'White Mantle'
signed and dated 'W.L. Metcalf '07' (lower right)--inscribed 'To.../commemorating your 18th anniversary/and wishing you many more./Willard L. Metcalf./Febr. 1923 (First sketch for 'White Mantle'/Bristol, Me--Xmas 1907)' (on the reverse)
oil on board
5 x 6 in. (12.7 x 15.2 cm.)

Provenance

The artist.
Private collection.
Roger S. Phillips, Nixon, Pennsylvania.
By descent in the Phillips family to the present owner.

Lot Essay

White Mantle depicts a snow laden scene Damariscotta River in Maine. Royal Cortissoz wrote in 1908 that this calm scene confirms "our confidence in his [Metcalf's] emotional growth...a superb snow scene...rendered with flawless delicacy." (as quoted in E. de Veer, Sunlight and Shadow: The Life and Art of Willard L. Metcalf, New York, p. 85)

This painting will be included in the forthcoming Willard L. Metcalf catalogue raisonné authored by Dr. Bruce Chambers, Ira Spanierman, Dr. William H. Gerdts and Elizabeth de Veer.

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