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Sanford Robinson Gifford

Two Pears on a Tabletop, c. 1866

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 28.6 x 29.9 cm (11 1/4 x 11 3/4 in.)

framed: 39.37 × 40.01 × 4.45 cm (15 1/2 × 15 3/4 × 1 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of William and Abigail Gerdts

Accession Number

2001.130.1

Artists / Makers

Sanford Robinson Gifford (painter) American, 1823 - 1880

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower left on envelope: Gifford / 15 10th St / N.Y.

Provenance

Acquired 1867 by John T. Wilson, New York. (Vose Galleries, Boston); purchased 27 April 1964 by William H. Gerdts [1929-2020], New York;[1] gift (partial and promised) 2001 to NGA.

[1] The Vose stock number was 21383, and the buyer-of-record was Henry M. Fuller, who purchased the painting for Gerdts and held it until Gerdts reimbursed him (per 12 December 2001 letter from Abigail Booth Gerdts to Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., in NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Gerdts, William H., Dr. and Mrs.

Exhibition History

1880: [Exhibition at the Gifford Memorial Meeting], Century Club, New York, 1880, no. 17, as Fruit.

1965: [Still lifes of edible subjects from the collection of William H. Gerdts, on occasion of publication of cookbook by William and Lois Katzenbach], Board Room, American Federation of the Arts, New York, c. 1965, no catalogue, label no. 25.

1966: Mid-Nineteenth Century American Painting from the Collections of Henry M. Fuller and William H. Gerdts, Cummer Gallery of Art, Jacksonville, 1966, no. 24, repro.

1970: 150 Years of American Still-Life Painting. An Exhibition for the Benefit of The Kips Bay Boys' Club, Coe Kerr Gallery, Inc., New York, 1970, no. 19, repro.

1976: American Cornucopia: 19th Century Still Lifes and Studies, The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, 1976, no. 21.

1981: Painters of the Humble Truth: Masterpieces of American Still Life, 1801 – 1939, Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa; Oakland Art Museum; Baltimore Museum of Art; National Academy of Design, New York, 1981-82, no. 5.19.

1998: For Beauty and For Truth, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst; Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, 1998, unnumbered catalogue, pl. 5.

Bibliography

1881: Weir, John F. A Memorial Catalogue of the Paintings of Sanford Robinson Gifford, N.A., New York, 1881: no. 459, as A Study of Pears.

1971: Gerdts, William H., and Russell Burke. American Still-Life Painting. New York, 1971: 105, fig. 7-6.

1977: Weiss, Ila. Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880). New York and London, 1977: 262-263, figs. VII I 5, VII I 6.

1981: Gerdts, William H. Painters of the Humble Truth: Masterpieces of American Still Life 1801-1939. Columbia, 1981: 106, fig. 5.19.

1987: Weiss, Ila. Poetic Landscape: The Art and Experience of Sanford R. Gifford. Newark, DE, 1987: 320, repro., as Pears and Wine.