Doll & Richards Gallery, Boston

This photograph depicts a gallery space in Boston owned by E. Adam Doll, Joseph Dudley Richards, and Charles E. Hendrickson from 1863-1973. We believe this may have been The Motherless’s first stop after leaving the hands of the artist in 1865 due to evidence in Vedder’s Artwork Sales and Disposition Notes from that year that state that a work entitled Girl Feeding Chickens was “Sold by Doll in Boston.” This may refer to The Motherless since the work has been given various similar titles in the past. Vedder talks about his relationship with Doll and lists other sales by Doll at various points in his autobiography, showing an ongoing relationship with the dealer and gallery.

Since, when talking about The Motherless in The Digressions of V., Vedder says that it was later “bought by a Mr. Cousins, well-known man in New York,” it may be possible that the painting was sold to this Mr. Cousins through Doll & Richards Gallery by the time the book was published in 1910. 

Text Source:

Doll & Richards gallery, 1863-1978, bulk 1902-1960s. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Elihu Vedder papers, 1804-1969 (bulk 1840-1923). Miscellaneous Personal Papers: Artwork Sales and Disposition Notes, 1856-1938, Reel 528, Frames 854-856.Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Vedder, Elihu. The Digressions of V.. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1910. https://archive.org/details/digressionsofv00veddrich (accessed February 19, 2014).

Image Source:

Doll & Richards gallery space at 71 Newbury Street, between 1908 and 1928 / N. L. (Nathaniel Livermore) Stebbins, photographer. Doll & Richards records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.