Marion Feasting the British Officer on Sweet Potatoes
1848
Artist, American, 1795 - 1879

Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 81 x 95.1 cm (31 7/8 x 37 7/16 in.)
framed: 104.1 x 119.4 x 10.1 cm (41 x 47 x 4 in.) -
Accession
1967.20.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Recorded as from New York State. May have descended from the artist to Judge Franklin G. Fessenden, executor of George Washington Mark's estate, Greenfield, Massachusetts.[1] Collection of Hiram J. Halle, Pound Ridge, New York. Halle estate sale (conducted by O. Rundle Gilbert on the grounds), 9-13 October 1961, cat. no. 1706, sold to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift to NGA, 1967.
[1] Many of Mark's paintings passed to Judge Fessenden, an admirer of his work, after the artist's death. Exactly which ones is not known. According to Steven Finer, these paintings were stored in the judge's daughter's barn atelier in Greenfield, where they remained for several years after the judge's death. The estate administrator, Charles Stoddard, sold them, but whether by auction or individually has not been determined (Steven Finer, town historian, Greenfield, letter of 30 March 1976, in NGA curatorial file).
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1897
Possibly exhibited in The "Count Mark Art Gallery", Franklin County Hospital, Greenfield, Massachusetts, 1897, no. 31, (with description under no. 10).
1970
Art in South Carolina 1670-1970, Gibbes Memorial Art Gallery, Charleston; Columbia Museum of Art; Greenfield County Museum of Art, South Carolina, 1970, no. 101, (cat. by Francis W. Bilodeau).
1973
Extended loan for use by the Council on Economic Policy, Office of the Secretary of the Treasury, The White House, 1973-1974.
1974
Extended loan for use by the Ambassador, U.S. Embassy residence, East Berlin, East Germany, 1974-1977.
1977
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Stoessel, U.S. Embassy residence, Bonn, West Germany, 1977-1981.
1982
Extended loan for use by Secretary Drew Lewis, U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C., 1982-1983.
1985
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Faith Whittlesey, U.S. Embassy residence, Bern, Switzerland, 1985-1988.
1988
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Philip D. Winn, U.S. Embassy residence, Bern, Switzerland, 1988-1990.
1993
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, 1993-1994.
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savannah, Georgia, 1993.
1994
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Louisiana Arts and Science Center, Baton Rouge, 1994-1995.
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Heckscher Museum, Huntington, New York, 1994.
1995
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), St. John's Museum of Art, Wilmington, North Carolina, 1995-1996.
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), McKissick Museum, Columbia, South Carolina, 1995.
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Boise Art Museum, Idaho, 1995.
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Pensacola Museum of Art, Florida, 1995.
1996
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainseville, 1996-1997.
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1996.
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California, 1996.
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Maier Museum of Art, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, Virginia, 1996.
1997
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, 1997.
1998
American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art (NGA National Lending Service exhibition), Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut, 1998.
2010
American Naive Paintings from the Garbisch Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, Virginia, 2010, no cat.
Bibliography
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 80, repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 197, repro.
1992
Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 252-254, repro. 253.
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 234, repro.
Inscriptions
across top reverse (no longer visible; photograph in object file [1967.20.1] in NGA curatorial records): MARION, Feasting the British / OFFICER on Sweet Potatoes. / By G. W. Mark, / Pnxt., / 1848; lower left reverse: 40
Wikidata ID
Q20187922