Provenance

Acquired 1839 by Rufus L. Lord [1782-1869], New York.[1] Jonathan Sturges [1802-1874], New York, and Fairfield, Connecticut;[2] his son, Henry C. Sturges [d. 1924], Fairfield, Connecticut; his wife, Mrs. Henry C. Sturges, Fairfield, Connecticut; LeRoy Ireland, Philadelphia, probably early 1930s, but certainly by 1944;[3] purchased June 1944 by (Vose Galleries, Boston);[4] sold 5 April 1945 to Sanitary Scale Company, Belvidere, Illinois;[5] acquired 1966 by (Kennedy Galleries, New York); purchased 25 May 1967 by NGA.
[1] The sketch for the state house at Columbus, Ohio, was executed on the original stretcher for NGA 1967.8.1, The Notch of the White Mountains (Crawford Notch), and presumably was acquired by Lord with that painting, which he commissioned from Cole in 1839; see Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., "Thomas Cole at Crawford's Notch," National Gallery of Art Report and Studies in the History of Art 2 (1968): 138. The provenance given here for the sketch is the same as that for the painting.
[2] Although there is no documentation, the Sturges family believed that Jonathan Sturges acquired the painting either directly from Rufus Lord or from his estate (letter of 10 November 1967 from Dudley Parker, in NGA curatorial files). Howard Merritt concurs in his letter of 29 October 1967 (in NGA curatorial files).
[3] The date Mrs. Sturges sold the painting and to whom are unknown to the Sturgeses. Parker's letter of 10 November 1967 (in NGA curatorial files), states that it was sold "in the depth of the great depression." In a letter of 2 June 1967 (in NGA curatorial files) Robert C. Vose, Jr., states that Vose Galleries purchased the painting from LeRoy Ireland, who "got it from the collection of Mr. H. C. Sturges of Fairfield, Connecticut."
[4] According to Vose (letter of 2 June 1967 in NGA curatorial files), the painting was sold to the Sanitary Scale Company while on view in the Hudson River School exhibition at the AIC.
[5] Letter of 13 June 1973 from John V. Farwell III (in NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Inscriptions

upper right: 14 x 6 1/2" / Thomas Cole / probably 1801-1848

Wikidata ID

Q20186393