Washington's Birthday

Sold via (Michael Knoedler & Co, New York, New York) to James J. Hill [1838-1916], St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1883;{1} Sold via (Goupil & Cie, New York, New York) to Angelo L. Myers [1834-1900], New York, New York, in 1893.{2} Mrs. George Monroe (Isabelle J.) Dixon, née Wolf [1908-1980], Zealandia, Asheville, North Carolina;{3} On loan to the Indianapolis Museum of Art from 1973 to 1992 when given by her daughter, Mrs. August (Sandra D.) Hardee (née Dixon) [1937-2006], Indianapolis, to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, now the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, in 1992 (1992.156). ------- {1} On 13 October 1882 M. Knoedler & Co. New York, received the painting from Jos. Bulla, Paris. It was sold on 25 January 1883 to James J. Hill, St. Paul. See Getty Research Institute, Dealer Stockbooks, Knoedler Book 3, page 216 available at: http://archives.getty.edu:30008/getty_images/digitalresources/goupil/jpgs/gri_2012_m_54_b3_247.jpg [captured March 2015]. Bulla seems to have served only as an intermediary for shipping the painting. Correspondence between M. Knoedler & Co. and Baugniet is preserved at the Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, Cabinet des Estampes, [Papers of Charles Baugniet], various SV nos.; see letters from M. Knoedler & Co. to Baugniet, dated 5 October 1882 (SV81122) and 16 March 1883 (SV81130) regarding this painting; the latter erroneously identifies the painting as having been sold to “un Monsieur de Chicago.” On James J. Hill of St. Paul as a collector, see Sheila ffolliott, “James J. Hill as Art Collector: A Documentary View,” in Jane H. Hancock et al., Homecoming: The Art Collection of James J. Hill, St. Paul, 1991, pp. 21-43. A photograph of Hill’s collection (page 22, fig. 13) on view at an art gallery in St. Paul shows Washington’s Birthday in the bottom row, second from right.) {2} On 15 July 1893 Goupil & Co., New York, recorded the painting they had received from Hill as sold to Angelo L. Myers. See Getty Research Institute, Dealer Stockbooks, Goupil Book 13, page 151 (stock no. 23143) available at: http://archives.getty.edu:30008/getty_images/digitalresources/goupil/jpgs/900239-vol13-151.jpg [captured March 2015]. {3} See “Hoosier Shares Treasures with Museum,” Indianapolis News, 23 January 1974.