Xanthus Russell Smith (American, 1839-1929) Cape May

Description:

Xanthus Russell Smith (American, 1839-1929)

Cape May, 1865
Signed "Xanthus Smith" l.l., titled, dedicated, signed, and dated "..Painted for
Joseph Wharton Esq./ By Xanthus Smith/ 1865" in the artist's hand on the reverse, with a partial label from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (see below) affixed to the frame and stretcher.
Oil on canvas, 6 1/8 x 16 1/8 in. (15.6 x 41.0 cm),framed.
Condition: Fine craquelure, minor retouch, minor surface grime.

Provenance: From the artist to prominent Quaker merchant, industrialist, scientist, and philanthropist Joseph Wharton, Esq. (1826-1909) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Conanicut, Rhode Island; by family descent to daughter Joanna Wharton Lippincott (1858-1938) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; by family descent to the present owner.

Literature: Peter Hastings Falk, ed. The Annual Exhibition Record of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Madison: Soundview Press, 1988),p. 210.

Exhibitions: 42nd Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1865, no. 623.

N.B. A Philadelphia native, born in 1839, Xanthus Smith was the son of Russell and Mary Priscilla Smith, both of whom were artists and who educated and encouraged their son. Smith traveled to Europe with his parents in the early 1850s and later that decade studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. During the Civil War, Smith enlisted in the Navy, and he made many detailed sketches of ships, encampments, and engagements that were very well received. Working shipboard using materials sent to him by his parents, Smith necessarily made works of compact size, establishing a preference for the accurate and detailed small-scale compositions that would characterize his future works. After the Civil War, Smith established a studio in Philadelphia, where he enjoyed substantial patronage. From 1869 to 1874, he created a series of Civil War marine battle scenes that earned him a wide following.

The painting at hand, a view of Cape May, New Jersey, was painted in 1865 for Philadelphia entrepreneur, industrialist, and philanthropist Joseph Wharton (1826-1909). The painting's small scale, exquisite detail, and atmospheric precision display Smith's talents at their best. Approximately 100 miles to the south of Philadelphia, Cape May had been settled in Colonial times by whalers and fishermen, and became a seaside escape for visitors from Philadelphia by the mid 18th century. It is not known if this particular view held significance for Joseph Wharton, but Cape May would have been a welcome destination for the Whartons and their young daughter Joanna, born in 1858. Already a successful entrepreneur by 1865, Joseph Wharton went on to found the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, was a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, and, with fellow Quakers, founded Swarthmore College.

Estimate $8,000-12,000

Several light and feathery washes of retouch to sky area, with the largest to the u.l. quadrant measuring approx. 2 x 1/2 in. at extreme height and width; no additional condition issues to report.

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