Lot 745: William Frye (American/Alabama, 1822-1872),

William Frye (American/Alabama, 1822-1872), "Portrait of John Gaillard Harvey Sr. (1807-1890)", 1868, oil on canvas, signed and dated en verso, 30 in. x 25 in.

Provenance : Descended in the Family of Sarah Evelyn DuBose Bondurant Harvey. Note: William Frye, the German-born artist who worked primarily out of Huntsville, Alabama, but also travelled throughout the South painting portraits and landscapes, was known for his style of painting, which included a sitter with "wide, staring eyes" and a photographic-like attention to detail. Frye married Catherine Stone Hale, a native of Huntsville, and spent most of his life there with her and their four children, although he also had a studio in Louisville, Kentucky. Frye's career culminated in 1866 when he won the competition to paint a posthumous portrait of Henry Clay for the Kentucky Senate. This commission, along with a monetary award and the "Palm of Excellence" were given to Frye just before his health and eyesight began to decline in the late 1860s. John Gaillard Harvey Sr., who was born in North Carolina, moved to Greensboro, Alabama in the 1830s after graduating from West Point Academy and spending two years in the United States Army. He became the editor of the Alabama Beacon newspaper and continued that profession for over thirty years. Harvey was the second husband of Sarah Evelyn DuBose Bondurant Harvey. Nicola Marschall portraits of Sarah and her first husband, Colonel Bondurant, sold in these rooms as lot 396, April 16, 2011 Reference: Adams, E. Bryding. "William Frye, Artist," Alabama Heritage, No. 32, Spring 1994, pp. 30-38.