Lot 55: JOHN LA FARGE (1835-1910) The Baptism of Christ (after Nicholas Poussin)

JOHN LA FARGE (1835-1910) The Baptism of Christ (after Nicholas Poussin) watercolor, gouache and pencil on paperboard 10 1/4 x 7 1/2in, image; 14 3/4 x 11 1/8in, sheet Executed circa 1902.

Provenance The artist. Estate of the above. Moritz Bernard Philipp, New York, probably acquired from the above. Jane Peterson, New York, the artist, by descent from the above, 1929. Donald Witherstein, Boston, Massachusetts, 1947. Victor D. Spark, New York, acquired from the above, 1952. Wilbur Family Collection, Hillsborough, California, probably acquired from the above, after 1968. Gift to the present owner from the above. Exhibited New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Exhibition of Glass, Oil and Water Color Paintings and Sketches by John La Farge, N.A., February 15-27, 1909, no. 84 (as The Baptism of Our Lord, Imitation of Poussin). Boston, Massachusetts, Doll and Richards, Catalogue of Oil and Water Color Paintings and Sketches by John La Farge, N.A., March 18-April 1, 1909, no. 42. New York, Century Association, Exhibition Records of the Century Association, June 5, 1909, no. 84. The present work was derived from Nicolas Poussin’s famous painting, The Baptism of Christ, circa 1658, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania. La Farge used this subject for three separate window commissions. In 1902 to 1903, the artist used Poussin’s scene for the baptistry at Emmanuel Church in Baltimore, Maryland. The landscape seen in the background of the present work most closely correspond to the stained glass window in this location and is the only known study for any of these windows. We wish to thank Dr. James L. Yarnall, Professor of Art History and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island, for his assistance cataloguing this lot.