Letter from John Gibson to John Udny, containing information for Henry Farnum

Letter from John Gibson to John Udny, containing information for Henry Farnum

John Gibson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Writing from Rome in 1850, the British sculptor Gibson here supplies price information on two marble statues, "Aurora" and "Cupid Disguised as a Shepherd," to John Udny in Livorno. The latter was acting as intermediary for a Philadelphia collector, Henry Farnum and addresses inscribed on the verso indicate that Udny forwarded the letter to Farnum via the Baring Brothers bank in Liverpool. Visitors to Italy arriving by sea often came through the Tuscan port of Livorno (called Leghorn by the British) and Gibson's correspondent may have been a marble dealer who descended from another John Udny (1755-1802), British vice consul at that port in the 1790s. Farnum did eventually acquire the version of Gibson's "Cupid Disguised" described and sketched in this letter (now Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum), offered at half price because of a dark line running through the marble. Gibson's first version was made in 1830 and proved so popular that he eventually produced eight repetitions and several reduced versions for European and American patrons. The donor of this letter was Farnham's great-grandaughter who also owned the related statue (now Harvard Art Museums/Fogg).

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Letter from John Gibson to John Udny, containing information for Henry FarnumLetter from John Gibson to John Udny, containing information for Henry FarnumLetter from John Gibson to John Udny, containing information for Henry FarnumLetter from John Gibson to John Udny, containing information for Henry FarnumLetter from John Gibson to John Udny, containing information for Henry Farnum

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.