$12,000
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000
American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists
Auction: June 5, 2016 3:00:00 PM EDT
Signed 'Cecilia Beaux' bottom left, oil on canvas
83 3/4 x 48 in. (212.7 x 122cm)
Provenance: The Artist.
Commissioned from the above by Mr. and Mrs. John Frederick Lewis.
By descent in the family to his son, John Frederick Lewis, Jr.
By descent in the family.
Private Collection, Malvern, Pennsylvania.
EXHIBITED:
"Cecilia Beaux: Portrait of an Artist", Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1974-1975, no. 64.
LITERATURE:
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The Paintings and Drawings of Cecilia Beaux, Philadelphia: 1955, p. 76, (illustrated).
NOTE:
Both John F. Lewis Sr. (1860-1932) and John F. Lewis Jr. (1899-1965) served as President of the Board at PAFA. Lewis, Sr. served from February, 1908 through December, 1932, and Lewis, Jr. served from February, 1949 through October, 1958. According to the 1974-1975 exhibition catalogue, Beaux served as a member of the PAFA faculty from 1895-1915, and was well acquainted with the Lewis family at the height of her Philadelphia career. The present portrait, as well as the double portrait of Mrs. Lewis and son, (see lot 20) were executed over a period of several years as commissions (ca. 1908-1910). These two double portraits are striking and show the artist's skill and style at their zenith. Beaux's excellent sense of balance in color, composition, and design are evident in both paintings, bringing out the sitters' emotions, affectations, and relationships to each other in an exceptional manner.