Portrait of Shakespeare [graphic] / William Page.
1873
Items
Linked e-resources
Linked Resource
Digital image(s) of Folger Shakespeare Library FPs24
Details
Title
Portrait of Shakespeare [graphic] / William Page.
Created/published
1873.
Description
1 painting on canvas : oil ; 68.6 x 54 cm
Associated name
Page, William, 1811-1885, artist.
Shaw, Francis George, Mrs., former owner.
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), former owner.
Shaw, Francis George, Mrs., former owner.
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), former owner.
Material base
canvas
Note
Inscribed at lower left next to arm: "WP.3d Shke / 1873." Inscribed in pen and ink on a page glued to uper center of blind stretcher: "Studio Building, 57 W. 10th St: / New York March 22nd '73 / My dear Sarah Shaw the / head of Shakespeare, which you / saw in my studio, and which I am / still at work on, was painted / for a gentleman, to whom, I have / written, to come and see it, no less / than twice he having neglected / to do so I consider myself at lib- / erty to do what I will with the picture. Would you like to / have it, or Frank? I thought / befor I attempted otherwise to dispose of it I ought to let you know / as you seemed interested in it-Hope / Mr Curtis is better Ever your friend / Wm Page." (Page moved into the Studio Building in 1867. Sarah and her husband, Frank, whose full name was Francis George Shaw, were close friends and patrons of the artist)
Title from Pressly.
Title from Pressly.
Publications about material
Joshua Taylor, William Page: The American Titian, Chicago, 1957, p. 257, no. 47 (Taylor gives the early provenance but did not know the painting's present whereabouts); Piper 1962, no. 6.
Provenance
Provenance: According to Page, commissioned in 1868, possibly by Theodore Tilton; offered by the artist to Mrs. Francis George Shaw on 22 March 1873; presented to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1903 by Mrs. Francis George Shaw; Metropolitan Museum sale, American Art Association, February 1929, lot 59 (a portion of a Metropolitan Museum label is still on the frame at lower right)
Source of acquisition
Bought by Folger from Union Square Book Shop, Dealers in Rare Books, Prints and Autographs, 30 E. 14th St., New York, May 1929, $625.
Exhibited
Exhibited: "Rave Reviews: 100 Years of American Art" National Academy of Design, NYC, September - December 2000; the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK, Jan. 31 through Apr. 1, 2001; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, April 21 through June 24, 2001.
Cited/described in
Pressly, W.L. Paintings in the Folger Shakespeare Library, 171
Linked resources
Digital image(s) of Folger Shakespeare Library FPs24
Genre/form
Portrait paintings.
Place of creation/publication
Great Britain -- England.
Item Details
Call number
FPs24
Folger-specific note
This record contains unverified data from a re-keying contract and may contain incorrect or incomplete text. Please consult Curator for assistance.