$750,000
Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823-1880) Sunday Prayers /Probably a Study for Sunday Morning in the Camp of the Seventh Regiment Signed "S. R. Gifford" faintly l.l., identified on information affixed to the backing. Oil on canvas, 7 x 12 1/4 in. (17.8 x 31.1 cm), framed. Condition: Lined, retouch, extremely mild craquelure, surface grime. Provenance: By descent to a private New England collection. Although Sanford Gifford began his career as a portraitist, he quickly developed an affinity for rendering landscapes following an 1846 trip to the Berkshires and Catskill Mountains. In 1861, Gifford enlisted in the military for the Civil War. He was in the Seventh Regiment and sketched when time allowed. This work was most likely a study for Sunday Morning in the Camp of the Seventh Regiment , presently in the collection of the Union League Club, New York. The scene, which shows soldiers relaxing with the Potomac River in the distance, reflects Gifford's "eye for spectacles in which many people were contained in a wide landscape or a large space." (1) (1)Weiss, Ila. Poetic Experience, The Art and Experience of Sanford Gifford ( DE: Associated University Presses, Inc., 1987). pg 227. The lining is adhered with wax, and may even have a solid support sandwiched between the two canvases. The retouch is an invert "L" shape just left of center in the sky, less than 1/2 inch tall. The craquelure is insignificant.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2007-11-16
