Signed in pencil lower right: “V.D.Lyn”; inscribed upper right: “In this / sketch / the attitude / is the best.” Verso bears sketch of woman’s torso and sleeve. In fine condition aside from two areas of paper loss in upper edge.
In “The Works of John Vanderlyn: From Tammany to Capitol”, Kenneth Lindsay relates this allegorical figure to a drawing of Charity illustrated in a sketchbook by Vanderlyn dated “prior to 1815”. A rare signed drawing.
Exhibited/Published: “Americans Drawings, Pastels, and Watercolors, Part One: Works of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries,” Kennedy Galleries Inc., March 14th to April 28th, 1967. No. 110 in accompanying exhibition catalogue (illus. p 68); and “The Works of John Vanderlyn: From Tammany to the Capitol”, University Art Gallery, State University of New York at Binghamton, October 11 – November 9, 1970, No. 13 in accompanying exhibition catalogue by Kenneth C. Lindsay (no illus.)
Two labels from Kennedy Galleries affixed verso. First label inscribed: “John Vanderlyn – 1775-1852 / Allegorical Figure: Abundance / Signed Middle Right / 11 x 8 3/8 – Charcoal on paper/ Number 13406 / Neg. 3759 / Kennedy Galleries, Inc. / 40 W. 57th St., 5th Floor, N.Y. 10019-4044”; Second label bears additional catalogue information: “#110 Amer Dwgs Pastels & Wcs Part I p 68”.
Provenance: John Vanderlyn to (1852) his niece, Catherine Vanderlyn (1825-1892); to Judge A. Schoonmaker; to his daughter, Lizzy Rioggen (Mrs. William) Laughton; to Mr. Fred Johnston (c. 1963); to Kennedy Galleries; to Childs Gallery.
