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Description: Paul Wayland Bartlett (1865-1925)
Philosophy
inscribed '1927 ? F.W. Bartlett [sic]' (on the right edge of the robe)
bronze bas-relief with light brown patina
16 1/4in high (41.3 cm)
Modeled
circa 1910; cast
circa 1927.
Artist or Maker: Paul Wayland Bartlett (1865-1925)
Provenance: Provenance
The artist.
Suzanne Bartlett, the artist's wife, by family descent.
Mrs. Armistead Peter III, by family descent, 1954.
Gift of Mrs. Armistead Peter III, 1959.
Sold to benefit the Acquisition Fund of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
The present work is a maquette for
Philosophy, one of six full-length statues commissioned for the attic story of the main facade of the New York Public Library. The six allegorical figures ─ History and Philosophy, Romance and Religion, and Poetry and Drama ─ 'symbolize the different fields of knowledge represented in the library' and were carved 'in high relief to exaggerate the features of the figures.'
1 The originals were modeled and executed between 1909 to 1914, and carved in marble from 1914 to 1915.
2
Mrs. Armistead Peter III (Caroline Ogden-Jones Peter) was the stepdaughter of the artist. She distributed the artist's work to various museums and institutions following her mother's death, including a bust version of
Philosophy in the Luce Foundation Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum.
1 https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/philosophy-bust-figure-front-facade-new-york-public-library-1445
2 T.P. Somma,
The Apotheosis of Democracy, 1908-1916: The Pediment for the House Wing of the United States Capitol, Newark, University of Delaware Press, 1995, p. 54.