Object details
Object number
ARC.008862
Creator(s)
Gretchen Osgood Warren
(Boston, 1871 - 1961, Boston)
Title
The Sower
Date
early 20th century
Medium
Printed ink on paper
Language
English
Dimensions
13.7 x 20.7 cm (5 3/8 x 8 1/8 in.)
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings
Inscribed in pencil in Isabella Stewart Gardner's hand (upper left corner of verso): Xmas / Party / Mower 1/ Keyes 1/ Deane 1/ Photos
Provenance
Gift from the actress, singer and poet Mrs. Fiske Warren (Gretchen Osgood, 1871-1961) to Isabella Stewart Gardner before 1920.
Commentary
Isabella's close friend Gretchen Osgood Warren was a highly accomplished woman. Her mother, Margaret Cushing Osgood, was an author, and her father, Hamilton Osgood, a doctor who worked with the renowned scientist Louis Pasteur in France. She grew up moving between Boston and cities across Europe, where she studied languages, science, art, music, and literature. In 1891 she married fellow Bostonian Fiske Warren, and the two later moved to Oxford, England, where Gretchen pursued philosophy and metaphysics. When the Warren family returned to Boston, she continued to develop her intellectual interests and published several volumes of poetry. She gave copies of her poems to Isabella as tokens of their friendship.
Bibliography
Christina Nielsen (ed.). Sargent on Location: Gardner's First Artist-in-Residence. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2018), p. 57, no. 7.
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