Two women seated at bottom with winged figure between them. Several winged figures above support an ornate tub-shaped closed casket.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The women are seated apart, the one on left dressed in green and yellow, the other on right wears blue with head covered. They face toward center, the winged female figure in the middle wears red; all figures wear flowing robes. This is an arch-shaped watercolor, partially completed, poses of the figures are sketched in however their facial details are mostly unfinished except for the seated figure in the lower right whose head is supported in her left hand, face turned slightly to us. Greek symbols of omega, Christ, and alpha, are drawn left to right at the arch peak.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1933.154
People
John La Farge, American (New York, NY 1835 - 1910 Providence, RI)
Title
The Angel of Help, Study for Helen Angier Ames Memorial Window, Unity Church, North Easton, Massachusetts
Other Titles
Former Title: Charity: Study for Ames Memorial Window, Unity Church, North Easton, Massachusetts
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1884
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/306622

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Transparent and opaque watercolor over graphite and black ink on tracing paper mounted on buff wove paper
Dimensions
46 x 30 cm (18 1/8 x 11 13/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: numbered l.r.: G.2212
  • inscription: verso, lower edge, graphite: La Farge. C1" 1679 mount / R 18 x 24
  • inscription: l.r., blue pencil: G.2212
  • inscription: verso, lower edge, green pencil: Property of Otto Heinigke
  • label: removed from old mount, now in curatorial file, paper, typed: Catalogue no. 110
  • label: removed from old mount, now in curatorial file, paper, printed and handwritten: [Printed:] H. G. Ollendorff / Fine Art Packers / New York / Lot No. / [handwritten in black ink:] 2152 / [printed:] Piece No. / [handwritten:] #110
  • label: removed from old mount, now in curatorial file, paper, printed and typed: Catalogue no. 94

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
John La Farge estate sale, Boston, 1910; purchased at that sale by Otto Weir Heinigke, New York; his bequest to Otto Weir Heinigke, Jr., his son, New York, 1915; his sale to Fogg Art Museum.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Louise E. Bettens Fund
Accession Year
1933
Object Number
1933.154
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Support is made up of two pieces of paper, one rectangular, one rounded at the top. There is a slight sketch of columns in graphite on the verso.

Publication History

  • Henry A. La Farge, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of John La Farge, Unpublished (n.d.), card 123
  • "John La Farge's Art in Boston-- A World Master Revealed", The Boston Herald (Boston, MA, June 5, 1910), pp. 4-5, pp. 4 - 5
  • Ann Hamilton Sayre, "The Complete Work of John La Farge at the Metropolitan", Art News (March 28, 1936), pp. 5-6, 12, p. 10
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, An Exhibition of the Work of John La Farge, exh. cat., Blanchard Press, Inc. (New York, NY, 1936), no. 49, reproduced in b/w
  • Jane Dillenberger and Joshua C. Taylor, The Hand and the Spirit: Religious Art in America 1700 - 1900, University of California at Berkeley (Berkeley, CA, 1972), p. 164
  • Helen Barbara Weinberg, "The Decorative Work of John La Farge" (Thesis, Columbia University, 1977), Garland Press, pp. 395 - 396, reproduced fig. 287
  • Henry B. Adams et al., John La Farge: Essays, exh. cat., Abbeville Press (New York, NY, 1987), reproduced in color p. 212
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Virginia Anderson, and Kimberly Orcutt, ed., American Paintings at Harvard, Volume Two, Paintings, Drawings, Pastels and Stained Glass by Artists Born 1826-1856, Harvard Art Museums and Yale University Press (U.S.) (Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT, 2008), p. 196-197, cat. 150, ill.
  • Jeffrey Howe, ed., John La Farge and the Recovery of the Sacred, exh. cat., University of Chicago Press (2015), p. 154, cat. no. 12, repr. p. 154.

Exhibition History

  • Unidentified Exhibition, Lawrence College, 1935, Lawrence University, Appleton, 03/01/1935 - 04/30/1935
  • Unidentified Exhibition, Phillips Exeter Academy, 1935, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, 10/14/1935 - 11/16/1935
  • An Exhibition of the Work of John La Farge, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 03/23/1936 - 04/26/1936
  • Unidentified Watercolor Exhibition, Winchester Art Association, 1940, Winchester Art Association, Winchester, 11/29/1939 - 12/31/1939
  • John La Farge, Graham Gallery, New York, 05/04/1966 - 06/10/1966
  • The Hand and the Spirit: Religious Art in America 1700 - 1900, University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, 06/28/1972 - 08/27/1972; National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, 09/29/1972 - 11/05/1972; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 12/10/1972 - 01/14/1973; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, 02/20/1973 - 04/15/1973
  • John La Farge, National Museum of American Art, Washington, 07/10/1987 - 10/12/1987; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 11/07/1987 - 01/03/1988; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 02/24/1988 - 04/24/1988
  • 32Q: 2130 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/01/2023 - 10/16/2023
  • John La Farge and the Recovery of the Sacred, McMullen Museum of Art, Chestnut Hill, 09/01/2015 - 12/13/2015

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu