Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait (1819-1905), Expectation

Lot 84

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65 Sharp Street
Hingham, MA 02043
United States

Copley Fine Art Auctions is the world's leading American sporting art auction company. Located in Hingham, MA, Copley specializes in antique decoys and 19th- and 20th-century American, sporting, and wildlife paintings. Principal Stephen O'Brien Jr., a fourth-generation sportsman with a refined colle...Read more

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The Sporting Sale 2023, Day 1 by Copley Fine Art Auctions

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The Sporting Sale 2023, Day 1

By Copley Fine Art Auctions

Jul 13, 2023

Set Reminder 2023-07-13 10:00:00 2023-07-13 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : The Sporting Sale 2023, Day 1 https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/copley/the-sporting-sale-2023-day-1-12989 Lots 1-243 Copley Fine Art Auctions cinnie@copleyart.com

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Lot Description

Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait (1819-1905)
Expectation, 1899
signed and dated "A.F.Tait N.A. 99" lower left
oil on linen on board, 18 1/4 by 27 1/4
dated, titled and signed on back

Tait's register entry for this painting reads, "C. 'Expectation' 18 x 27 Sheep--. Horse & Dog. Dec'r & Jan'y begun Dec'r 22. finished Jan 8th 99 took about 12 days Holidays -- [bag of oats] Lotos Club," according to Henry Marsh's checklist of the artist’s works.

Tait painted this work while he lived in Yonkers, New York, with his wife Emma. She recorded they were very happy, and Tait was "able to get to the country north of Yonkers and spend time among the farm animals and fowl, depicting them in their rural setting."

After gaining full membership to the National Academy of Design in 1858, Tait entered “Expectation” in its 74th Annual Exhibition in 1899. Artist Carlton Wiggins wrote to Tait after seeing a "little sheep picture at the Lotos Club," expressing how charming and fine he found it. The Lotos Club, founded in 1870, is a literary and arts club in New York City that counted Mark Twain among its members, with a mission "to promote and develop art, sculpture, literature, architecture, journalism, music, drama, science, education and the learned professions…" Tait was a member and exhibited “Expectation” there as well.

Warder Cadbury notes, "Tait's subjects deftly shifted from Adirondack game to quiet pastorals of sheep and cows at just the right moment in American cultural and economic history. By catering to a new generation of art buyers, he remained productive and financially secure, unlike some of his contemporaries."

This charming pastoral scene exhibits a mixture of barnyard animals, with a loyal sheepdog guarding the bag of oats that has caught the attention of the hungry but content horse and sheep.

Provenance: Estate of Muriel Flint Treat, Laguna Hills, California
Private Collection, California, acquired in 1988

Literature: Warder H. Cadbury and Henry F. Marsh, "Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait: Artist of the Adirondacks," 1986, pp. 103, 105, 308, no. 99.4.

Condition

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