Painting is Sold
In 1917 the Portrait of Mrs. Hale was sold Chase’s estate, along with several hundred of Chase’s other works. A 4-night sale auction was held to raise funds for the estate. On the forth night, “Paintings and Other Artistic Property Left By the Late William Merritt Chase” were sold including Mrs. Hale’s Portrait with the title Portrait of Mrs. Philip Hale[1].
According to The Fogg’s copy of the sale record, the portrait was sold to Mary for $20.00. However, this would have been a very low price for a work of this size compared to the price of Chase’s other work, and is therefore believed to be a mistake. The painting probably sold for $120.00, with the number cut of at the side of the digitized book. “Mary” could refer to Marie Ducharme Lothrop, the mother-in-law of the future donor, Mario Lewis Lothrop and another former student of Chase[2]. A second version of the catalogue held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art Library points to another buyer, Alfred Rose who would have purchased the painting for $150.00[3]. Ronald Pisano cites Alfred Rose as the first owner of the work, but it is difficult to discern from the records who purchased the painting, only that it left the Chase collection in 1917.
Text Sources:
[1] American Art Galleries and American Art Association, Catalogue of the Completed Pictures Studies and Sketches Left by the Late William Merritt Chase. The Frick Collection Fine Arts Library, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University. May 1917. Accessed through Google Books, April 20th, 2014. http://books.google.com/books?id=qhQEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1835&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false.
[2] Marion Lewis Lothrop to Miss Brooks, May 20th, 1950.
[3] American Art Galleries and American Art Association, Catalogue of the Completed Pictures Studies and Sketches Left by the Late William Merritt Chase. The Metropolican Museum of Art Libraries, Auction Catalogues. Acessed April 20th, 2014. http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll18/id/4806/rec/2.
Image Sources:
http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll18/id/4806/rec/2. Acessed April 20th, 2014.
http://books.google.com/books?id=PJJAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=snippet&q=hale&f=false. Acessed April 20th, 2014.