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Lot Essay
In an 1881 letter to his mother, only months before his abrupt and untimely death, Edward Russell Thaxter wrote: 'Did I ever tell you how this subject came into my head? While I was at Rome (the last January, 1880) one night, when it was dark and rainy, we were all sitting there by the fire; and, as I felt in the thinking mood, I moved away into a dark corner and in five minutes was lost to all worldly things. I don't mean that I fell asleep, but I fell into thinking what I should make when I got back to Florence. As I mused I could see, just as plainly as I can see this paper, a 'dream of love.' At first, the beautiful vision was very dim, but it grew brighter and brighter, until it stood before me to-day in my studio.' (G. Heydt, “Woman Idealized in Marble”, Werner’s Magazine, vol. 21, March-August 1898, p. 66).
The American sculptor Edward R. Thaxter had a brief but promising career, demonstrated by this undeniably accomplished marble group. Born in Maine in 1857, he was considered an artistic and musical talent with a poetic soul that 'seemed to flow as readily from his pen as it from his magic fingers when they touched the clay' (op. cit. p. 65). The discovery of this artistic expression led him to Boston at age sixteen to study with the portrait sculptor, John D. Perry. After a brief tenure in his own studio in Portland, Maine, Thaxter moved to Florence in 1878, following the trend of many young sculptors wishing to learn from the masterpieces abroad. In 1881, shortly after completion of Love's First Dream, Thaxter suddenly contracted typhoid fever and passed away at the young age of 24. Upon his death, the Honorable J. Schuyler Crosy, then the U.S. Consul in Florence, wrote that 'His young life has passed away, but his name will ever remain famous through his last great work, Love's First Dream. (op. cit. p. 71).
Love's First Dream was posthumously exhibited at the 1883 Boston 'Foreign Fair', where the present group was awarded first prize, garnered much-deserved critical acclaim and prompted the artist's work to be produced commercially in reduced sizes for exhibition in Tiffany’s New York 'Art Rooms'. Following its exhibition, the marble group entered the the collection of Captain Joseph de Lamar (d. 1918), a Dutch emigrant to the United States who amassed considerable fortunes in ship salvaging, mining and trading and constructed lavish residences in New York and on Long Island’s Gold Coast. De Lamar's collection was dispersed on site at his Manhattan mansion by his daughter in 1919 (see inset illustration). Virginia financier John Kerr Branch (d. 1930) and his wife Beulah Gould Branch (d. 1952) purchased the marble for their newly constructed residence in Richmond and the artist's masterwork has since remained in the the family's possession. Ultimately completed in 1919, historic Branch House was designed by the celebrated architect John Russell Pope, whose illustrious career included designs for the National Archives and Records Administration Building (1935), the Jefferson Memorial (1943) and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art (1941) in Washington, DC.
The American sculptor Edward R. Thaxter had a brief but promising career, demonstrated by this undeniably accomplished marble group. Born in Maine in 1857, he was considered an artistic and musical talent with a poetic soul that 'seemed to flow as readily from his pen as it from his magic fingers when they touched the clay' (op. cit. p. 65). The discovery of this artistic expression led him to Boston at age sixteen to study with the portrait sculptor, John D. Perry. After a brief tenure in his own studio in Portland, Maine, Thaxter moved to Florence in 1878, following the trend of many young sculptors wishing to learn from the masterpieces abroad. In 1881, shortly after completion of Love's First Dream, Thaxter suddenly contracted typhoid fever and passed away at the young age of 24. Upon his death, the Honorable J. Schuyler Crosy, then the U.S. Consul in Florence, wrote that 'His young life has passed away, but his name will ever remain famous through his last great work, Love's First Dream. (op. cit. p. 71).
Love's First Dream was posthumously exhibited at the 1883 Boston 'Foreign Fair', where the present group was awarded first prize, garnered much-deserved critical acclaim and prompted the artist's work to be produced commercially in reduced sizes for exhibition in Tiffany’s New York 'Art Rooms'. Following its exhibition, the marble group entered the the collection of Captain Joseph de Lamar (d. 1918), a Dutch emigrant to the United States who amassed considerable fortunes in ship salvaging, mining and trading and constructed lavish residences in New York and on Long Island’s Gold Coast. De Lamar's collection was dispersed on site at his Manhattan mansion by his daughter in 1919 (see inset illustration). Virginia financier John Kerr Branch (d. 1930) and his wife Beulah Gould Branch (d. 1952) purchased the marble for their newly constructed residence in Richmond and the artist's masterwork has since remained in the the family's possession. Ultimately completed in 1919, historic Branch House was designed by the celebrated architect John Russell Pope, whose illustrious career included designs for the National Archives and Records Administration Building (1935), the Jefferson Memorial (1943) and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art (1941) in Washington, DC.