Winslow Homer
Lucy Houghton Valentine
Property from a Private Collection, Palm Beach, Florida
Winslow Homer
1836 - 1910
Lucy Houghton Valentine
signed HOMER and dated 1883 (lower left)
oil on canvas
canvas: 22 3/4 by 17 5/8 inches (57.8 by 44.8 cm)
framed: 29 3/4 by 25 inches (75.6 by 63.5 cm)
Painted in 1883.
The work is lined and tacked over what appear to be period stretchers. There are frame abrasions along the extreme outer edges of the canvas and there is fine surface cracking throughout the composition. Under UV: there appear to be scattered small spots and some fine lines of inpaint, likely corresponding to surface cracking, in the figure's chair in the lower left quadrant. There appear to be additional small spots of inpaint in a horizontal section at center right.
The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colors and shades which are different to the lot's actual color and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation. The condition report is a statement of opinion only. For that reason, the condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS ONLINE CONDITION REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE/BUSINESS APPLICABLE TO THE RESPECTIVE SALE.
Mr. and Mrs. Lawson Valentine, New York, 1883 (commission from the above)
Mrs. Lawson Valentine (Ms. Lucy Houghton Valentine), 1891 (the sitter, by descent)
Marguerite Houghton Foster (Mrs. Albert T. Foster), Providence, Rhode Island, and Miami, Florida, by 1911 (her niece, by descent)
Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Kistler, Miami, Florida, circa 1965 (by descent)
Richard Namon, Coral Gables, Florida, 1983 (acquired from the above)
Private collection, circa 2000
Acquired by the present owner circa 2013
Daniel Kany, "Art Review: Inside Homer's local artistic community," Portland Press Herald, December 30, 2012, n.p., illustrated
Lloyd Goodrich and Abigail Booth Gerdts, Record of Works by Winslow Homer: 1883 Through 1889, vol. IV.2, New York, 2012, no. 1175, illustrated p. 230
Chicago, Illinois, Terra Museum of American Art, March 1889 - June 1990
Portland, Maine, Portland Museum of Art, Winslow Homer, April - July 1991
According to Abigail Gerdts, "Lucy Houghton Valentine (1823-1911) married Lawson Valentine (1828-1891) in 1851 . . . Lawson Valentine is well known as one of Homer's first and most staunch patrons, as was his brother, Henry. . . Lucy Valentine may have been at least her husband's full partner in appreciating Homer's work. It should be noted that she was credited as the owner-lender of a Homer Sketch (now The Flock of Sheep, Houghton Farm, 3:No. 728) to the American Water Color Society annual exhibition of 1879. In the spring of 1892, within a year following her husband's death she lent nine of their Homers to the New York Athletic Club's annual loan exhibition, and remained throughout her lifetime, a generous lender of the many Homers she inherited" (Record of Works by Winslow Homer: 1883 Through 1889, vol. IV.2, New York, 2012, p. 230). In a letter to previous owner, Richard Namon, Lloyd Goodrich continued on this subject, "At Lawson's country estate in Mountainville, New York, near Cornwall, named Houghton Farm, Winslow Homer spent the summer of 1878, painting many watercolors." (letter dated May 23, 1984).
Two letters of correspondence between Winslow Homer and the sitter Lucy Houghton Valentine, dated January 20th and 26th, 1883, refer to appointments for her sitting for the present work. This correspondence is now in the Colby College Museum of Art Library.