Lot 1416

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Description:

DOUGLAS VOLK''S HEAD STUDY AND ARCHIVE OF HIS PORTRAIT OF BELGIAN KING ALBERT I
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS VOLK (1856-1935) American portrait and figure painter, muralist, and educator, best known for his posthumous portraits of Abraham Lincoln and other world leaders, and for his intimate depictions of friends and acquaintances. Presented here is a large collection of materials related to Volk''s 1919 life-size portrait "King Albert I of Belgium", painted as part of a commission from the National Art Committee and currently held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The centerpiece of the group is Volk''s original oil-on-canvas preliminary head study of Albert, approx. 20" x 27", a chest-up depiction of the monarch wearing a brown overcoat over his military uniform, created during his sittings with the King in the summer of 1919. In Volk''s finished full height portrait, the monarch is depicted standing in a trench in military uniform with an overcoat around his shoulders, as he is in the study presented here. Volk briefly describes the creation of this study in a retained copy T.L.S., 2pp. 4to., [n.p.], Aug. 7, 1919, to signer of the Treaty of Versailles and chairman of the National Art Commission HENRY WHITE (1850-1927), in part "...I had a very satisfactory stay in Brussels, having been favoured with six sittings from the King. This enabled me to make a careful study of his head, and to get sketches, data, etc. The head I painted, I am glad to say, ran the gauntlet of criticism on the part of some of his close associates most successfully. The portrait is to be a large one. I have planned a full length as nothing else would seem to satisfy the friends of the Soldier King. Thus I made several trips to the battle-front, where the King spent a great deal of his time, for the purpose of getting material for the background..." Another vital piece of provenance is provided by a b/w photograph, 8 1/4" x 6 3/4", showing Volk''s studio, with the head study prominently displayed on an easel in the foreground. Besides its utility in helping Volk create his commissioned portrait of Albert, this study would also provide the basis for a more personal work, as Volk explains in an unsigned draft manuscript letter, 4pp. 4to., Fryeburg, Maine, Oct. 15, 1929, to the Belgian consul, in part: "...I had the high honor of painting from life, His Majesty at the Royal Palace at Laeken in Bruxelles, making at the time a study of the head and shoulders... I have for some time been working on a portrait head from the study made in Belgium, with the idea of presenting it to His Majesty, and it is now about ready to send..." It is important to reiterate that, while the final, full-height portrait of Albert was completed by Volk after his return to the U.S. from studies made in Belgium, the head study presented here was painted directly from life, as the Belgian monarch sat for Volk. The study is unsigned and has been removed from its stretcher, and shows an approx. 8" tear across Albert''s lower face, with old repairs to the damage visible on the verso. The collection further features a large amount of correspondence and other relics and documents related to Volk''s trip to Belgium and his painting of Albert. This includes a Belgian M15 "Adrian" helmet, of four-part construction and manufactured in France, with a badge in the form of a lion''s head, a traditional symbol of unified Belgium, applied at front. The helmet is finished khaki overall, matching the Belgian army uniform of the World War I era. The original six-finger brown leather liner is present but detached from the interior of the helmet, and the brown leather chinstrap is broken. In the final portrait of Albert, a Belgian Adrian helmet can be seen in the subject''s left hand. We believe that the helmet offered here is that used as a model in Volk''s portrait, most likely as he completed it following his return to the United States after his sittings with the King. This is supported by a T.L.S. to Volk, 1p. 4to., Brussels, Aug. 18, 1919, from W.W. Hoffman of the American legation, which reads, in part: "... A package arrived for you with a letter from the household of the King. It was marked ''Fragile'', and looked as if it might have been a framed picture. As you had left no address I forwarded it by courier, with the letter, in care of Mr. Henry White, Peace Commission, Hotel Crillon. I hope you will receive it all right. Rand is looking after the tin helmet, and will send it to you in London..." A second unsigned typed letter, 2pp. 4to., Pasadena, Nov. 6, 1919, a retained copy of a letter sent by Volk to Hoffman, reads in part: "... My son wrote me recently from New York that a Belgian helmet had arrived by Brussels having been sent by you. I am looking for it any day; this is another favor added to the list for which I heartily thank you." The collection also includes several additional study sketches executed by Volk. The first, an approx. 5" x 9 1/2" pencil sketch, depicts a crucifix in profile, which appears at upper left in the final portrait, while the second, approx. 8 1/2" x 8 3/4", depicts Albert''s clenched right fist, which in the final portrait rests on a sandbag. A third study, a 7 1/4" x 5" sketch in black ink, depicts Albert''s collar tab insignia, copiously annotated by Volk and labeled in black ink: "Notes made from King Albert''s military coat, Brussels, June 191[9], Douglas Volk." This insignia is prominently visible in the head study presented here. Also present are sixteen variously-sized reference photos of the King, three bearing pencil grid lines allowing Volk to properly reproduce his facial proportions, and a further photograph, unfortunately badly faded, which depicts another individual modeling the pose seen in the portrait, wearing a military uniform and overcoat loaned to Volk by the King for the purpose, and holding a Belgian Adrian helmet identical to that described above. The archive further consists of a very large amount of correspondence between Volk and such figures as American Ambassador to Belgium BRAND WHITLOCK (1869-1934), diplomat NORMAN ARMOUR (1887-1982), Standard Oil head HERBERT PRATT (1871-1945), and Belgian writer SANDER PIERRON, among others, all related to Volk''s 1919 trip to Europe to produce the paintings of Albert and British Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Other material related to this trip includes Volk''s United States passport, an award certificate conferring the Belgian Order of Leopold the II upon Volk (the medal unfortunately not present), a table card and stationery from the Cunard liner RMS MAURETANIA and a luncheon menu from the RMS ADRIATIC, negatives and photographs taken by Volk aboard the liners during the voyage, a large group of Belgian newspapers, a flower petal from the spot of a speech by Albert at Flanders, and much else. Additional photographs present include several monochrome reproductions of Volk''s final portrait of the King, commissioned by Volk to send to Albert, his representatives, the National Art Council, and other acquaintances, including one which Volk has traced over in black ink and signed at lower right, as well as scenes of battlefield destruction, a photo reproduction of a sketch by Volk of Brand Whitlock, and much else. The collection was sold by the Cyr Auction Company of Gray, Maine in July 2006 as a small part of a much larger auction of items from the Volk estate. Their catalog description lists the materials presented here only as: "Large lot of letters and memorabilia related to Douglas'' famous commissions including Felix Adler, Pershing ... Lincoln, King Albert, Lloyd George, more..." Should be seen. A one-of-a-kind work of art, with provenance provided by a fascinating personal archive undoubtedly of great interest to art historians and scholars of World War I alike.

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December 20, 2017 10:00 AM EST
Chesapeake City, MD, US

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