Object details
Accession number
P1w23
Primary Creator
Elliott & Fry
(active London, 1863 - 1962)
Full title
Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Creation Date
about 1890
Object Case
Musicians Case
Provenance
Possibly a gift from Polish composer and pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) to Isabella Stewart Gardner when he performed at her Beacon Street home in 1892.
Marks
Inscribed and signed in ink (bottom): à Madam Isabella Gardner (sic) hommage / I J Paderewski
Printed on bottom: Elliott & Fry 55 Baker St W
Printed on verso: Elliott & Fry, / 55 Baker St, W. / No.....
Dimensions
25.1 x 20 cm (9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.)
Display Media
Platinum print
Web Commentary
In 1892, Isabella Stewart Gardner invited composer-pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) to give a private performance at her Beacon Street home. Paderewski accepted on the condition that he would play for Gardner alone, so she agreed not to invite guests—but hid her friend Clayton Johns behind tapestries in an adjacent room so that he could listen in. She subsequently convinced Paderewski to play for students at the New England Conservatory of Music, paying him handsomely for both engagements.
Permanent Gallery Location
Yellow Room
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 17.
Rights and reproductions
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