Winged Figure Seated Upon a Rock

Object Details

• Artist

  Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849-1921)

• Label

  Winged Figure Seated upon a Rock originated as one of the canvases related to the Stevenson Memorial of 1903, a tribute to one of Thayer's favorite authors, Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894). The copy was still in the artist's studio in 1914, when Thayer made it into a memorial to his late wife, using Gladys as the model and inscribing a Latin dedication that means "Mother of my daughter! To you this monument." Thayer added a second inscription in April 1916 stipulating that the painting never be retouched, "not one pin-point," a provision meant to make the monument inviolable.

  When Freer offeref to buy this emotionally charged painting--"my heart's legacy to the world," as Thayer called it--he must have asked that any remaining copies of the Stevenson Memorial be turned over to him, for another of the trial compositions seems to have made its way into his possession. Although the figure was probably copied by Thayer's student Rockwell Kent (1882-1971), Thayer himself appears to have painted the head, "the dominating central fact" of any of his figure paintings, according to Gladys Thayer. The facial expression, she said, "must sing as it were from corner to corner of the canvas."

• Provenance

  To 1915

  Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849-1921), Dublin, NH, to 1915 [1]

  From 1915 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Abbott Handerson Thayer in October 1915 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Voucher 8, October 1915, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Winged Figures (June 5, 1999 to March 18, 2001)

  American Art - Abbott Handerson Thayer (May 9, 1996 to June 30, 1997)

  American Paintings: Abbott Handerson Thayer 1849-1921 (December 11, 1976 to April 18, 1977)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 8 and 9 (February 25, 1956 to April 28, 1958)

  Special Centennial Exhibition of Thayer Paintings (August 12, 1949 to January 3, 1950)

  Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, Gallery 4, 1947 (September 25, 1947 to February 25, 1956)

  American Paintings by Metcalf, Thayer, and Twatchman (March 23, 1925 to May 5, 1933)

  American Painting, Abbott H. Thayer (May 2, 1923 to March 23, 1925)

  Exhibition of Paintings by Abbott H. Thayer (April 24 to May 28, 1919)

  Thirty-first Annual Exhibition (January 11 to February 13, 1916)

  Inaugural Exhibition (June 6 to September 20, 1916)

  Ninetieth Annual Exhibition (March 20 to April 25, 1915)

  Twenty-Eighth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture (November 16, 1915 to January 2, 1916)

  Uncatalogued showings in 1914: Gellatly Collection (1914)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849-1921) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1910s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Thayer, Abbott Handerson

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, American Art, Angels, Woman

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Paintings