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The recent discovery of a Da Vinci painting may be setting a new trend in which priceless artworks are made public. Joel T. Smith, a Hollywood producer, is looking for a buyer for his original Willard Metcalf oil painting, the Snake Charmer, which was never exhibited during Metcalf’s life.
Though certainly not as well known as Da Vinci, Metcalf was one of the original American Impressionists, and his work is included in a number of prestigious museums among them the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as well as many other public and private collections.
Last Spring the Society of Four Arts in Palm Beach ended the season with American Impressionists from the Philips Collection; and from February through May 2009 the Norton Museum exhibited Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism, a show organized by the Brooklyn Museum, which included a number of works by American Impressionists. Willard Metcalf’s Early Spring Afternoon-Central Park, an oil on canvas from 1911, is in the collection at the Brooklyn Museum.
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Metcalf started his career as a wood engraver. He attended the Boston Museum School, and in 1873 he went to France to study in Paris. Mr. Smith, who inherited three Metcalf paintings from his father states, “My grandfather was Metcalf’s accountant, possibly his drinking buddy since both were big drinkers, and I suspect he received the paintings as partial payment for some of his work with Metcalf’s books and taxes.”
Smith grew up with the Snake Charmer on his wall. When he was about five he tossed a dart at the painting – aiming at the tambourine. Years later he paid dearly to have the puncture repaired by the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts Conservation Department. The painting was on loan to the museum and hanging prominently until about ten years ago when Smith moved it to the Kentucky Museum of Art in Lexington.
“When I inherited the paintings I had no idea that they had any value. I had grown up with two of the paintings literally stored under my bed. Then I saw an article in, I think, Smithsonian Magazine about the “Ten” American Impressionists. Lo and behold, there was Metcalf. I did a little further study and found that a big coffee table bio and art book was published on Metcalf – Sunlight and Shadow by Elizabeth De Veer. The Snake Charmer was subsequently featured in art historian Gerald Ackermann's book American Orientalists."
Now Smith is hoping to find a buyer for the rare Metcalf painting. The artist is known for his landscapes, so a figure portrait is unusual for him. Nevertheless, the Snake Charmer is a lovely and exotic piece and a positive portrait of a turbaned male from the 19th century.
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***© 2009 all rights reserved Maxine Schreiber. The above articles may not be rewritten, copied, published, broadcast, or redistributed, wholly or in any part, without the express written permission of Maxine Schreiber.
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