With artist and title on labels verso, oil on board

Provenance

Swanson Art Galleries, Ltd., San Francisco, California.
Maxwell Galleries, Ltd., San Francisco, California.
Ivey-Selkirk, sale of November 16, 2013, lot 168 (purchased post-auction).
Property of an Estate, Tennessee.

Exhibited

The Oaks Maxfield Parrish Museum, Windsor, Vermont, 1925.

The Oaks Maxfield Parrish Museum, Windsor, Vermont, August 30, 1978 - January 10, 1979.

Note

Maxfield Parrish is one of the most renowned and recognized painters and illustrators of the twentieth century. A native of Philadelphia, he attended Haverford College, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and Drexel Institute of Art, Science of Industry (now Drexel University). His educational background roots him deeply as a Philadelphian whose unique style, adept skill, and unmatched popularity helped to shape not only what Norman Rockwell referred to as "the Golden Age of Illustration", but the future of American visual arts as a whole. Parrish's prolific career spanned from the 1890s through the 1960s, and secured his reputation as one of America's primarily 'public' artists. The mass reproduction of his paintings- initially intended as magazine and book illustrations, advertisements, calendars, and murals- defined his standing as one of the most celebrated figures in the history of American art. Exceptionally famous both nationally and internationally for his luminous color palette, romanticized nudes, and fantastical landscape settings, the present painting is an excellent example of one of these landscape settings. Dream-like and alluring, the deep, cobalt "Parrish blue" and rich purple hues draw the viewer in, while the central focal point- the fountain- aids in creating an environment that entices one into the composition.