Letters concerning a collection of Italian paintings owned by James Jackson Jarves of Florence, 1859-1860.

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Letters concerning a collection of Italian paintings owned by James Jackson Jarves of Florence, 1859-1860.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11864068

James Jackson Jarves, born in Boston, was for health reasons unable to complete his Harvard degree and so occupied himself with travel; he was publisher of the first newspaper in the Hawaiian Is. Settling in Florence, he devoted his energies to the study of art, and amassed a large and important collection of early Italian masters. This group of paintings was the first of its type to be brought to America. Charles Eliot Norton attempted to interest the Boston Athenaeum, Harvard and the Boston public in general in the collection, but the reception was disappointing. The bulk of the collection was eventually sold to Yale. The bulk of the letters are from Jarves to Norton; other letters include those from Charles Christopher Black, Charles Sumner, Edward Newton Perkins and Jarves' mother, Anna Smith Stutson Jarves. These letters show clearly the process through which the paintings were introduced to Boston, the critical reception the collection received, and serve to illuminate an important phase in the institutional acquisition of art in the mid-19th c. With a bound typescript of the letters.

27 items in folder + 1 v. (74 leaves)

Boston Athenaeum

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SNAC Resource ID: 6676636

Related Entities

There are 7 Entities related to this resource.

Jarves, James Jackson, 1818-1888

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t837qg (person)

James Jackson Jarves (1818–1888) was an American newspaper editor, and art critic who is remembered above all as the first American art collector to buy Italian primitives and Old Masters. Jarves was the editor of an early weekly newspaper in the Hawaiian Islands, the Polynesian (1840–48). During the 1850s, Jarves relocated to Florence, Italy where he served as the U.S. vice-consul and collected art. After other American museums refused to buy Jarves' collection, Yale University granted him a ...

Perkins, Edward Newton.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s49xbd (person)

Black, Charles Christopher

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f50t9j (person)

Norton, Charles Eliot, 1827-1908

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64f1r1g (person)

Charles Eliot Norton was an American author, editor, and teacher. He was a professor of the history of fine arts at Harvard. Eliot Norton was his son. From the guide to the Charles Eliot Norton letters to Eliot Norton, 1867-1908., (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University) American author, editor, and educator. From the description of Letter to Edwin D. Mead [manuscript], 1881 May 30. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647814472 ...

Boston Athenaeum. Fine Arts.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k99cdj (corporateBody)

Jarves, Anna Smith Stutson.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xs90qz (person)

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x34xv4 (person)

Massachusetts lawyer and U.S. Senator, 1851-1874. He was an ardent abolitionist who attacked the south in his "crime against Kansas" speech in 1856. Two days later he was assaulted in the Senate, receiving injuries that took him years to recover from. From the description of Letters, 1858-1869. (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library). WorldCat record id: 55768315 Born in Boston, Mass., the U.S. statesman Charles Sumner studied law at Harvard and practiced law in his native ci...