Alfred Pope: An Evolution of Ingenuity
James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903)
21. The Last of Old Westminster
22. The Beach at Selsey Bill
23. The Selsey Shore
24. Little Rose of Lyme Regis
25. Carmen Rossi
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The Last of Old Westminster, 1862
Oil on canvas, 24 × 30 ¾ in. (61 × 78.1 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.
Unlike many of the works that Alfred collected that went straight from the artist to a gallery where he purchased them, The Last of Old Westminster changed hands a few times before Alfred acquired it. George John Cavafy acquired the work from Whistler in 1863. Cavafy was an important collector of Whistler paintings. Upon his death in 1891, the painting went to his son Dr. John Cavafy, who then sold it to E. G. Kennedy of Wunderlich Galleries in New York in 1892. A short time later, a different gallery, Cottier and Co., acquired the work. Sometime before 1898, Alfred purchased the work from Cottier and Co. After Alfred’s passing in 1913, Theodate sold the work to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, in 1939. The Last of Old Westminster remains at the MFA.
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The Beach at Selsey Bill, c. 1865
Oil on canvas, 24 × 18 ¾ in. (61 × 47.6 cm). New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut.
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The Selsey Shore, c. 1878–81
Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm). Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut.
Alfred acquired both of the Selsey paintings from Messrs. Dowdeswell through a sale brokered by Goupil and Co., London, by 1894. The Selsey Shore remains at Hill-Stead today, while The Beach at Selsey Bill is not too far away, in the collection of the New Britain Museum of American Art.
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Little Rose of Lyme Regis, 1895
Oil on canvas, 20 ¼ × 12 ¼ in. (51.4 × 31.1 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
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Carmen Rossi, ca. 1895
Oil on canvas, 20 x 12 in. (50.8 x 30.5 cm). Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington Connecticut
Out of all the works in his collection, Alfred owned Little Rose of Lyme Regis for the shortest period of time: less than 24 hours. After acquiring this charming portrait from E. G. Kennedy of H. Wunderlich and Co. in New York on October 11, 1896, he returned the work to the gallery that same day. Shortly after, the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston purchased the painting. Alfred ended up exchanging Little Rose of Lyme Regis for Carmen Rossi, another portrait by Whistler that remains in the collection today. The purchase and subsequent return of Little Rose of Lyme Regis shows that Alfred was intentional and deliberate with his art collecting and that he was not afraid to change his mind.