Half-Million-Dollar Oil Stands Heade and Shoulders above the Rest

Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, Thomaston, Maine

by Mark Sisco

By our unofficial reckoning, about $10,000,000 worth of antiques changed hands at auctions in Maine between August 25 and 31. About 5% of that total was garnered by a single lot, sold at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries in Thomaston on August 30, the first day of its annual two-day Labor Day weekend event.

It was the second version of Roman Newsboys, painted by New York artist Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904), that led the sale and all other sales for Maine's August antiques week. The earlier version now hangs in the Toledo Museum of Art. The 29¼" x 24½" (sight size) painting also appears as #17 in Theodore Stebbins, Jr.'s catalogue raisonné The Life and Work of Martin Johnson Heade, along with a thorough description of both works. The book points out that these are the only genre paintings by Heade known to survive. The artist is much better known for his Luminist landscapes, marine scenes, and exquisite floral paintings.

Both works show two street urchin newsboys in slightly different poses hawking broadsheets. The writing on the paper differs significantly between the two, and this, the later version, includes several papal symbols. The boy on the left wears a paper hat marked "Pius IX," and shadows of a cross and a cardinal's hat appear on the walls.

The differences between the two paintings reflect the changing political climate of Italy and of Europe in general at the time, as Italian nationalists were trying to establish a kingdom encompassing the entire Italian peninsula and uniting the fractious northern and southern regions.

The initially liberal Pope Pius IX was elected in 1846 and was at first well liked by the populace because he declared a general amnesty for political prisoners, but later the pope fled from Rome when his minister of the interior was assassinated. The second painting was probably done following the pope's restoration to power in July 1849. The revolutionary posters appearing in the first version were removed, and the papers the boys were offering were changed from satirical revolutionary tracts to a newspaper marked ROMA.

The painting was relined and slightly retouched, and the restoration had been done under the aegis of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. When the hammer finally fell, the painting sold for a towering $522,500 (includes buyer's premium), more than double the high estimate.

Among the folk art furnishings was an extraordinary carved oak and poplar bookcase over a gallery-topped cabinet. Every external surface except the back and the gallery top was covered with carved images of marine and wildlife themes that included ropes and vines, alligators, sea gulls, serpents, monkeys, polar bears, elephants, a lion and hunter, a whaling scene with two boats, and many other embellishments. The scalloped interior was covered in fabric, and the gallery top retained an original leather surface. The wildly decorated folk art bookcase brought $15,400.

Another treasure of American folk art, a small Civil War-era decorated chest, was a father's gift to his daughter. A mother-of-pearl plaque read "Made & Presented by Father to Ada F. Seaver, 1867." The three-drawer miniature chest had two glove drawers above and was embellished with inset tintypes of family members surrounded by leaf carvings, engraved mother-of-pearl escutcheons, and incised flowers, stars, and lovebirds. With a scalloped apron and backsplash and a carved American eagle topping it all, it easily cruised past the $6000/8000 estimate to finish at $19,800.

A beautiful Newburyport, Massachusetts, serpentine mahogany chest with a birch case and mahogany top, attributed to Abner Toppan (1764-1836), with well-detailed ball-and-claw feet, a small shell-carved apron drop, and an overhung molded top, brought a strong $33,000 (est. $15,000/25,000). One bracket return on a rear leg was missing, several drawer runners had some restoration, and an old red stain had been added to the drawer interiors.

A set of four mahogany Queen Anne side chairs and a matching armchair missed selling by a single bid increment. They were made for Middlesex County, Virginia, settler Ralph Wormeley (or his descendants). Wormeley was the founder of the Rosegill Plantation and one of the first trustees of The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The yoke-form chairs had leaf- and scroll-carved rail crests, wide urn-shaped splats, and front legs with floral-carved knees and ball-and-claw feet; the arms on the armchair ended in open-mouth lions' heads. Some missing toes, replaced splats, and other repairs and amendments kept them out of the money, however, and bidding reached only $37,500 (est. $40,000/50,000).

AskART.com describes New Jersey artist Charles Warren Eaton (1857-1937) as "one of the best-kept secrets of the art market." With 176 of his works listed, however, it looks as if the secret is out. Here a 29½" x 27½" (sight size) oil on canvas, Mystic Moonlight, signed lower left and titled on the stretcher, in the original Arts and Crafts frame, fetched $44,000, which placed it second among Eaton's readily available price records. Many of Eaton's works feature compositions like this one with tall trees dominating the foreground.

For more information, call (207) 354-8141 or visit (www.thomastonauction.com).

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