Bryant's+Provenance

Provenance Quick Facts

 * Donated by Blackwell Mayer Family 1900
 * 8078th book in accession
 * Belonged to artist F.B. Mayer



Mrs. F. B. Mayer was the young wife of artist Francis Blackwell Mayer. Author Jean Jepson Page, writer of the article, Frank Blackwell Mayer Painter of the Minnesota Indian, writes that Francis Mayer or Frank was a Baltimore born artist living from 1827 to 1899. He came from an affluent family. His father was Charles Fredrick Mayer, one of Baltimore's railroad magnets (Page 67). Though Mayer spent most of his life in Maryland, he was fascinated with the American Indian and the social politics regarding them (Page 69). In her review of Mayer’s personal journals, Bertha Heilbron states that, Mayer went to Minnesota to document the Indian Treaties in 1851. The painting was sold to the state of Minnesota and it still hangs in the Society's museum (Heilbron 1933). A decade after Mayer’s Minnesota painting he left the United States to study art in Paris for five years (Page 217). As an artist Mayer was semi-successful having painted a few commissioned paintings that hang in the Peabody Institute (Page 218). Mayer died not a famous man, but was known.

There is no telling how Bryant’s Progressive Lessons in Landscape came into Mayer’s possession, considering there is very little information on Mayer himself. It is possible, that Mayer bought the book during his travels in Europe. Based on the time of purchase, Mayer may have bought Bryant’s Progressive Lessons in Landscape unbound and added additional lithographs causing the book to grow and change from its original format. This would account for the variance in plate numbers, inability to clearly navigate through the text, and the prints from artists other than Bryant. After the book left the printing house or when it was purchased it was changed based on who possessed the copy.

Introduction