TitleAbbott Handerson Thayer
Original artistAfter
Abbott Handerson Thayer
(American, 1849 - 1921)
Daten.d.
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 20 × 16 in.
Framed: 29 5/8 × 25 1/2 × 3 in.
SubmissionANA diploma presentation, before April 1900
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1245-P
Label TextThe discovery of a series of letters in the Academy Archives regarding Abbott Thayer's diploma portrait indicates that the painting, formerly thought to be a self-portrait, is actually a copy of a work by Thayer, executed by George Of. Thayer's wife Emma wrote to the Academy on 26 February 1899 explaining that he was unable to paint a portrait in time to confirm his election as an Associate. Shortly thereafter, Thayer himself wrote that his wife would make a "copy of a sketch of me" for the Academy. [actual receipt not recorded in minutes; probably arrived in summer 1899; asks for it back in April 1900]. A decade later, in response to a query from the Academy, Thayer wrote that the copy had ultimately been executed by Of ("It was made from a sketch by me").In his late career, Thayer often employed student copyists to reproduce his work at various stages of completion. He would sometimes finish the copies, leaving the original canvas uncompleted. Of must have executed the copy before April 1900, for on 16 April Thayer requested that the portrait be returned to him to finish it or replace it with another. The Council, perhaps aware of Thayer's reputation of endlessly altering his paintings, declined to allow the portrait to leave the Academy. It is possible that Thayer had intended from the outset to complete the picture himself. This would explain the unfinished state of the painting, unusual even for Thayer's sketchy works.
Of's copy succeeds in conveying the intensity of Thayer's character. Its iconic frontality stresses the probing eyes, darkened by his furrowed brow. Unblended colors, thickly applied, do not resolve completely into facial planes; there is a sense of conflicting emotions under the blotchy surface. Of's association with Thayer appears to have ended on a disturbing note. While sailing with the Thayer family to Europe in December 1900, Of became secretly engaged to the painter's daughter, Mary Thayer. Her father is said to have convinced her to break off the engagement, a setback which affected Of for the rest of his life.
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