SOLD to Nichols House Museum
I found at two different times but the same small antique show and from the same dealer, pairs of bronze portrait medallions by the pre-eminent American portrait sculptor John F. Flanagan, cast by Gorham Foundry. I knew that Flanagan had worked with August Saint-Gaudens, whom I had studied closely when working on my doctoral dissertation about Henry Fitch Taylor. Flanagan was one of the younger sculptors who spent time with "The Saint" as an assistant is his Cornish, NY studio. Also the names of the people depicted in the medallions was familiar to me: Nichols, Homer, and Shurtleff. As it turned out, I was right and there was a close Cornish connection since Rose Nichols, daughter of the home's owner, Dr. Arthur Nichols, was a pre-eminent garden designer including the gardens of several Cornish estates, and the family also owned property in Cornish. After owning the portraits for several years, I offered them to the Nichols House Museum and they found a new home in 1/2018, making both parties happy at the suitable placement.