The Art Collection of Marshall Owen Roberts was a collection of sculptures, antiques and paintings owned by New York industrialist

Marshall Owen Roberts Marshall Owen Roberts (March 22, 1813 – September 11, 1880) was an American merchant, financier, railroad man, and prominent art collector. Early life Roberts was born on March 22, 1813, in New York City. He was the son of Welsh born Dr. Owen R ...

. The collection, which featured many prominent American artists and works, including

Emanuel Leutze Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (May 24, 1816July 18, 1868) was a German-born American history painter, best known for his 1851 painting '' Washington Crossing the Delaware''. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Biography Leutze w ...

's ''

Washington Crossing the Delaware Washington Crossing the Delaware may refer to: * George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, which occurred on the night of December 25–26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary ...

'', remained intact following his 1880 death until it was auctioned off in 1897.

History

Roberts was a noted art collector and staunch supporter of American artists who never sold or exchanged a painting after he bought it. He was considered the prototypical New York patron, like Gilpin in Philadelphia and Harrison Gray Otis in Boston. He "made no pretensions to connoisseurship, but was guided in his purchases simply by fancy, or with a view to assisting some needy artist." Roberts served on the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

's Board of Trustees in 1870 and 1871, and lent some of his paintings to the Metropolitan Fair Picture Gallery in 1864 held at the Fourteenth Street Armory. Roberts formed his collection of 335 paintings at a time when the Düsseldorf School of German genre paintings were the fashion and the canvases which told human stories were most worthy of attention. His best-known acquisition is

's 1851 painting ''

'', which he bought for $10,000 (at the time, an enormous sum). Roberts built an art gallery, attached to his home, 107

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

(at the southeast corner of 18th Street), where he displayed his collection, which included

Rembrandt Peale Rembrandt Peale (February 22, 1778 – October 3, 1860) was an American artist and museum keeper. A prolific portrait painter, he was especially acclaimed for his likenesses of presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Peale's style wa ...

's ''Babes in the Wood'', Daniel Huntington's ''Venice'', ''Good Samaritan'' and ''Old Lawyer'',

Frederic Edwin Church Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painting, landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, best known for paintin ...

's ''Rainy Season in the Tropics'' and ''Coast of Maine'',

Régis François Gignoux Régis François Gignoux (1814–1882) was a French painter who was active in the United States from 1840 to 1870. (Aliases: Marie-François-Régis Gignoux; Régis Francois Gignoux; Régis François Gignoux; Régis-François Gignoux) Biography ...

's ''Hawk's Nest, West Virginia'',

Richard Caton Woodville Richard Caton Woodville (30 April 1825 – 13 August 1855) was an American artist from Baltimore who spent his professional career in Europe, after studying in Düsseldorf under the direction of Karl Ferdinand Sohn. He died of an overdose of mor ...

's ''War News from Mexico'',

Asher Brown Durand Asher Brown Durand (August 21, 1796 – September 17, 1886) was an American engraver and painter of the Hudson River School. Early life Durand was born in, and eventually died in, Maplewood, New Jersey (then called Jefferson Village). H ...

's ''Indian Rescue'', Schaeffele's ''Marie de Medici's Visit to Ruben's Studio'', Johann Georg Meyer's ''First Lesson'',

Constant Troyon Constant Troyon (; August 28, 1810 – February 21, 1865) was a French painter of the Barbizon school. In the early part of his career, he painted mostly landscapes. It was only comparatively late in life that Troyon found his ''métier'' as ...

's ''After the Hunt'',

Paul Falconer Poole Paul Falconer Poole (1807–1879) was a British subject painting, subject and genre works, genre painter. Though self-taught, his fine feeling for colour, poetic sympathy, and dramatic power gained Poole a high position among British Empire, Br ...

's ''Pension Agent'',

Charles Verlat Charles Verlat or Karel Verlat (25 November 182423 October 1890) was a Belgian painter, watercolorist, engraver (printmaker), art educator and director of the Antwerp Academy. He painted many subjects and was particularly known as an animalier ...

's ''Sheep in Pasture'',

Paul Delaroche Hippolyte-Paul Delaroche (; Paris, 17 July 1797 – Paris, 4 November 1856) was a French painter who achieved his greater successes painting historical scenes. He became famous in Europe for his melodramatic depictions that often portrayed subje ...

's ''Napoleon at Fontainbleau'',

Ernest Meissonier Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (; 21 February 181531 January 1891) was a French academic painter and sculptor. He became famous for his depictions of Napoleon and his military sieges and manoeuvres in paintings acclaimed both for the artist's mas ...

's ''The Smoker'' (1849)

Thomas Sidney Cooper Thomas Sidney Cooper (26 September 18037 February 1902) was an English landscape painter from Canterbury, noted for his images of cattle and farm animals. Early life Thomas Sidney Cooper was born in St Peter's Street in Canterbury, Ken ...

's ''Monarch of the Plain'',

Édouard Frère Édouard Frère (; 27 September 1797, Rouen – 7 April 1874, Rouen) was a French bookseller, archivist, biographer, and historian specialized in the Normandy area. Life The son and grandson of booksellers, Frère's father, Jacques-Christophe o ...

's ''Mother and Infant'' and ''The Industrious Mother'',

John Frederick Kensett John Frederick Kensett (March 22, 1816 – December 14, 1872) was an American landscape painter and engraver born in Cheshire, Connecticut. He was a member of the second generation of the Hudson River School of artists. Kensett's signature wo ...

's ''Noon by the Sea Shore'' and ''Franconia Notch'',

Henry Peters Gray Henry Peters Gray (June 23, 1819 - November 12, 1897) was an American portrait and genre painter. Early life Born in New York City he was a pupil of Daniel Huntington in New York, and subsequently studied in Rome and Florence. Career Elected ...

's ''Rose of Fiesole'' and ''Just Fifteen'', George A. Baker's ''Love at First Sight'', ''Wild Flowers'' and ''Children of the Wood'',

John George Brown John George Brown (November 11, 1831 – February 8, 1913) was a British citizen and an American painter who specialized in genre scenes. Biography John George Brown was born in Durham, England on November 11, 1831. His parents apprenticed hi ...

's ''His First Cigar'',

Thomas Cole Thomas Cole (February 1, 1801 – February 11, 1848) was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for hi ...

's ''Old Mill'', James McDougal Hart's ''Old Homestead'' and ''Morning in the Adirondacks'',

William Henry Powell William Henry Powell (February 14, 1823 – October 6, 1879), was an American artist who was born and died in New York City. Powell is known for a painting of the Battle of Lake Erie, of which one copy hangs in the Ohio state capitol building ...

's ''Landing of the Pilgrims'',

William Sidney Mount William Sidney Mount (November 26, 1807 – November 19, 1868) was a 19th-century American genre painter. Born in Setauket, New York in 1807, Mount spent much of his life in his hometown and the adjacent village of Stony Brook, New York, Stony Br ...

's ''Raffling for a Goose'',

Robert Swain Gifford Robert Swain Gifford (December 23, 1840 – January 15, 1905) was an American landscape painter. He was influenced by the Barbizon school and became a member of the Society of American Artists. Early life and education Gifford was born on Non ...

's ''On The St. Lawrence'' and ''View of Quebec'', Eugene Benson's ''Thoughts in Exile'',

Thomas Sully Thomas Sully (June 19, 1783November 5, 1872) was an English-American portrait painter. He was born in England, became a naturalized American citizen in 1809, and lived most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including in the Thomas Sull ...

's ''Woman at the Well'' and ''A Girl Offering Flowers at a Shrine'', Seymour Joseph Guy's ''A Field Daisy'' and ''Good Sister'',

Charles Loring Elliott Charles Loring Elliott (1812 – 1868) was an American painter known for his portraits. He was active in central New York for 10 years as a young man, then in 1845 moved to New York City, to pursue his career. He was elected to the National Ac ...

's ''Portrait of Himself'', and

George Henry Boughton George Henry Boughton (4 December 1833 – 19 January 1905) was an English-American, Anglo-American landscape and genre Painting, painter, illustrator and writer. Early life and education Boughton was born in Norwich in Norfolk, England, the ...

's ''Gypsy Women'',

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (; 11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academic painting, academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living art ...

's ''The Egyptian Conscript'', James Augustus Suydam's ''On the Beach'',

Charles Baugniet Charles-Louis Baugniet (; 27 February 1814 – 5 July 1886) was a Belgian painter, lithographer and aquarelle, aquarellist. His name remains attached to the lithographing of portraits of famous and lesser-known figures from Belgium, France and E ...

's ''Dressing for the Ball'', Benjamin Vautier's ''The Letter'', as well as works by M. H. Koekkoek

Édouard Detaille Jean-Baptiste Édouard Detaille (; 5 October 1848 – 23 December 1912) was a French academic painter and military artist noted for his precision and realistic detail. He was regarded as the "semi-official artist of the French army". Biogra ...

. In addition to the 1876 '' Indian Vase'' by his son-in-law Ames Van Wart, Robert's collection included 1,000 different numbers in bronze, art objects and furnishings. His sculptures included

Erastus Dow Palmer Erastus Dow Palmer (April 2, 1817March 9, 1904) was an American sculptor. Life Palmer was born in Pompey, New York on April 2, 1817. He was the second of nine children. He showed early artistic promise, and pursued his father's trade of carpent ...

's medallion base-reliefs ''Night'' and ''Morning'',

Franklin Simmons Franklin Bachelder Simmons (January 11, 1839 – December 8, 1913) was a prominent American sculptor of the nineteenth century. Three of his statues are in the National Statuary Hall Collection, three of his busts are in the United States Senat ...

's ''The Promised Land'', and Voso's ''

Cupid and Psyche Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from ''Metamorphoses'' (also called ''The Golden Ass''), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psy ...

''.

Auction of collection

Roberts died on September 11, 1880, while in

Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the ...

. The entire collection was left to his widow, the former Sarah Lawrence "Susan" Endicott. At the time of his death, it was reported that he had spent $600,000 () on the collection which was then worth over $750,000 (). In 1892, Susan remarried Ralph Vivian of

Claverton Manor The American Museum and Gardens (formerly American Museum in Britain) is a museum of American art and culture based at Claverton, near Bath, England. Its collections of American furniture, quilts and folk art are displayed in a Grade I listed ...

They moved to London and the collection remained in the Fifth Avenue home, which remained unoccupied other than during the winter of 1893 to 1894 when Cornelius and Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt leased the mansion while they were expanded their chateau at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. In 1897, Susan hired Messrs. Ortgies & Co. of the Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, under the management of Samuel P. Avery, Jr., to auction off the entire collection. The auction of the paintings took place at Chickering Hall on the evenings of January 19, 20, and 21, 1897. The statuary, art objects, and other furnishings were auctioned off from the Fifth Avenue home on January 18 and 22. In total, $41,754 () was received for the sale of 172 pictures, $8,764 during the first night's sale and $32,990 the following night at Chickering Hall. The Roberts home on Fifth Avenue was sold and in July 1901, architect

Robert Maynicke Robert Maynicke (1849–1913) was an American architect. At his death, the ''New York Times'' called him "a pioneer in the building of modern loft buildings." The new building, extant today at 105 Fifth Avenue, was the original location of the

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

chain of bookstores from 1932 to 2014.

Collection

;Paintings File:Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, MMA-NYC, 1851.jpg, ''

'' by

, 1851 File:DelarocheNapoleon.jpg, '' Napoléon à Fontainebleau'' by

, 1840 File:The Raffle (Raffling for the Goose) MET DT1511.jpg, ''Raffling for the Goose'' by

, 1837 File:War News from Mexico.jpg, ''War News from Mexico'' by

, 1848 File:The smoker.jpeg, ''The Smoker'' by

File:Frederic Edwin Church - Rainy Season in the Tropics - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Rainy Season in the Tropics'' by

, 1866 File:James McDougal Hart - 'The Old Homestead', 1862, High Museum.JPG, ''The Old Homestead'' by James McDougal Hart, 1862 File:Indian-Rescue-863x1100.jpg, ''Indian Rescue'' by

;Sculpture and pottery File:Indian Vase MET 97.10.jpg, '' Indian Vase'' by Ames Van Wart, 1876 File:The Promised Land MET 97.11.jpg, ''The Promised Land'' by

, carved 1874 File:Morning by Erastus Dow Palmer, 1854, marble - Albany Institute of History and Art - DSC08271.JPG, ''Morning'' by

, 1854

References

;Notes ;Sources

External links

Marshall O. Roberts
at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall O. Roberts, Art collection of Private art collections