Jules Joseph Lefebvre

George I. Seney (and sold, his sale, American Art Galleries, New York, February 11-13, 1891, lot 139)
J.J. Gillespie & Co., Pittsburgh 
Acquired from the above through the Prendergast Bequest, 1891

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Library, Dedication Loan Exhibition, 1895, no. 179

"Art Galleries and Societies," American Art Annual, Boston, 1900-1, vol. III, p. 114
Descriptive Catalogue of the Art Gallery of the James Prendergast Library Association, Jamestown, New York, 1906, no. 22 
Katherine E. Manthorne, The Mirror Up to Nature: A Catalogue of 19^th and 20^th Century Paintings in the Collection of The James Prendergast Library Association, Jamestown, New York, 1982, p. 26

This work has been lined. Fine, stable craquelure is visible. Under UV: old varnish fluoresces green unevenly. There is scattered, brushy inpainting visible in the background, especially at the center left and along the right edges. There are fine lines of retouching visible over the green varnish to address the craquelure. There is a quarter inch round dot of retouching to the subject's lips.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present work was formerly in the storied Brooklyn collection of George Ingraham Seney, included in Edward Strahan’s Art Treasures of America. A self-made man from Astoria, New York, Seney served as president of the Metropolitan Bank of New York in the late 1870s and was a financier of many railroads, with great means to fuel his voracious collecting habit. Seney quickly owned more canvases than his house could hold, and at the time of the sale in 1891, Seney’s collection was known as the finest collection of modern European masters ever to be exhibited in America (The Sun, New York, February 3, 1891, n.p.).

Throughout his prolific and celebrated career Lefebvre had a long association with Americans. He was a professor at the Académie Julian in Paris where, along with Fernand Khnopff (see lot 52), several young American artists including were among his students. Best known for his finely detailed figure paintings of beautiful women (see lot 10), Lefebvre was an accomplished muralist and William H. Vanderbilt commissioned several from the artist to decorate his impressive New York mansion (see lot 13).