350
Erastus Salisbury Field (1805-1900), The Plague Of Darkness
Estimate: $3,000-$5,000
Sold
$7,500
Live Auction
American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts
Description
Erastus Salisbury Field (1805-1900), The Plague Of Darkness
Circa 1865-1880
bears paper labels on verso, American Folk Art Gallery, New York and Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield Mass, oil on canvas, framed.
36 1/2 x 45 1/2 inches (sight), 41 1/4 x 53 inches (frame).
Condition
wax lined; replaced stretcher; replaced frame; generally fluoresces green; with some scattered retouching throughout, but largely to sky and some to buildings; some occasional surface scuffs, and a small area of loss to surface along left-facing edge; possible repaired tear mid canvas, above paintings
Provenance
Provenance:Found in Amherst, Massachusetts,American Folk Art Gallery, New York,Collection of Herbert W. Hemphill, Jr., Property from a Private Pennsylvania Collection.Exhibition History and Literature:This painting was included in the exhibition, Erastus Salisbury Field: 1805-1900, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts, February 5-April 1, 1984; National Museum American Art and National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., June 10 - September 4, 1984; Museum of American Folk Art, New York, New York, November -December 1984; and the Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas, January-February, 1985. Mary Black wrote the accompanying exhibition catalog of the same name. The Plague of Darkness is catalog no. 85. and is illustrated page 49, fig. 46.Note:Detailed in the Book of Exodus, the plague of darkness was the ninth of ten plagues sent as a judgment by God against Egypt for not releasing the Israelites from slavery. Between 1865 and 1880 the deeply religious and passionately anti-slavery Field depicted The Plagues of Egypt in a series of large canvases intended for display in the North Congregational Church of North Amherst, Massachusetts.