Lot 432: WILLIAM EDWARD LANGE (1846-1912)

Residence of W.P. Buffet, 1873 watercolor and ink on paper 10 1/8x18 1/8in. PROVENANCE Hon. W.P. Buffet thence by descent in the family to the present owner LITERATURE Dean F. Failey and Zachary N. Studenroth, Edward Lange's Long Island (Setauket, New York: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, 1979),fig.39,pp. 42-43. NOTES The rapidly changing face of Long Island during the last quarter of the nineteenth century was meticulously recorded by the self-taught artist William Edward Lange. His paintings of individual houses, farms, landscapes and townscapes record a vanished past and serve as important historical documents as well as charming images of another time. Lange's earliest works, including this depiction of the residence of the Hon. W.P. Buffet, were executed in black ink and colored with thin watercolor washes. Characterized by an almost hypnotic effort in capturing details such as the picket fencing and carefully planted vegetable garden, scenes such as this flattered Long Islanders' pride in home and community and their generally held opinion that "There is no more delghtful and salubrious spot within a hundred miles of New York." Judge Buffet's farm was located on Meadow Glen Road in Fort Salonga (named after a Revolutionary British fortification), between present day Northport and Kings Park. The main house in this view is typical of the large, five-bay, two story Long Island manor house of the mid- to late-1700's, and was built by Joseph Buffet in the 1770's.