Garland of Fruit and Flowers

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Garland of Fruit and Flowers

Artist John La Farge (American, 1835-1910)

Place of OriginUnited States

Date1882

DimensionsFrame: 60 3/8 × 52 1/4 × 3 1/4 in. (153.4 × 132.7 × 8.3 cm)

Mediumoil, gouache, wax on paper on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1912.1267

Not on View

Label TextIn 1881, railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843-1899) did a little interior decorating. He had just built a new 153-room townhouse at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in New York (it was demolished in 1927). He hired an army of artists and designers to decorate it, including Louis Comfort Tiffany, Augustus Saint Gaudens (see his Victory nearby) and leading American muralist and stained glass artist John La Farge, who oversaw the decoration of the dining room. This large painting served as the design (or cartoon) for one of four sets of needlework curtains that hung in the dining room doorways. The metallic silver paint of the background represents the sumptuous silver thread used for the needlework. La Farge took his inspiration for the ribbon-tied swag of fruits from Italian Renaissance designs.Published References"Art Notes - Decorative Work," Art Journal, (New York), VIII, Nov. 1882, pp. 351-52.

"La Farge Embroideries," Art Amateur, VIII, Jan. 1883, p. 49.

Cortissoz, R., John La Farge, A Memoir and a Study, Boston, 1911, repr. opp. p. 194.

Weinberg, H. B., The Decorative Work of John La Farge, New York, 1977, pp. 263-64, no. 1, fig. 193 (Garland reprint, Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1972).

La Farge, H. A., "Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of John La Farge," unpublished MS., no. 82.4.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, American Paintings, Toledo, 1979, pp. 72-3, pl. 84.

Foster, Kathleen A., "The Still-Life Painting of John La Farge," American Art Journal, vol. 11, no. 3, July 1979, p. 31, repr. fig. 24, p. 35.

Dinnerstein, Lois, "Opulence and Ocular Delight, Splendor and Squalor: The American Renaissance as a Concept," Arts, vol. 54, no. 3, Nov. 1979, p. 158, repr. fig.1.

La Farge, Henry A., "John La Farge's Work in the Vanderbilt Houses," American Art Journal, vol. 16, no. 4, Autumn 1984, pp. 62, 63, 70, n. 25, fig. 41.

Yarnall, James L., "Souvenirs of Splendor: John La Farge and the Patronage of Cornelius Vanderbilt II," American Art Journal, vol. 26, nos. 1 & 2, 1994, pp. 81, 82, fig. 13, p. 84.

Mayer, Lance, & Gay Myers, American Painters on Technique: 1860-1945, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Trust, 2013, p. 65, fig. 6, repr. (col.) p. 64.

Exhibition HistoryNew York, Ortgies and Co., Important Collection of Oil and Water Color Paintings by John La Farge, 1884, no. 91 ("cartoon for embroidery for dining room of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Esq. Hanging garland of fruit and flowers. In oil, on paper, silver ground").

New York, Reichard and Co., Catalogue of Drawings, Watercolors and Paintings by Mr. John La Farge, N.A., 1890, no. 25 ("working design for embroidery. Hanging garland of fruit and flowers. Motif from Sansovino. Water, wax and oil").

Boston, Doll and Richards, Catalogue of Drawings, Watercolors, and Paintings by Mr. John La Farge, 1892.

New York, Montross, Catalogue of Works by John La Farge, 1901, no. 116 ("Large Decorative Panel, known as Vanderbilt panel").

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Catalogue of Works by John La Farge, 1901, no. 99.

Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY. 1979.

Washington, D.C., Smithsonian American Art Museum (National Museum of Fine Arts), 1979.

New York, Jordan-Wolpe Gallery, Nature Vivante: The Still Lives of John La Farge, 1995, no. 38, p. 128, repr.