Letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner from Spring Hill, Massachusetts
correspondent
Dodge MacKnight
(American, 1860 - 1950)
correspondent
Isabella Stewart Gardner
(New York, 1840 - 1924, Boston)
Date17 January 1901
Place MadeEast Sandwich, Massachusetts, United States, North America
MediumInk on paper
ClassificationsManuscripts
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberARC.002835
eMuseum ID725962
EmbARK ObjectID29533
Other NumberU27e362
TMS Source ID13121
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryDodge Macknight carved out a niche for himself as Boston’s premier watercolor painter in the early 1900s, and Isabella Stewart Gardner was one of his most significant patrons and friends. Macknight excelled at self-promotion and in this letter appealed to Isabella’s love of old masters and royal blood lines. He writes, “Were I Titian or Velazquez I would invite you to my studio and allow you to pick up a paint brush (the kings and queens used to amuse themselves thus, did they not?).” In 1915, Gardner opened the only gallery in her Museum dedicated to a contemporary artist—the Macknight Room.
BibliographyNotes
Hannah Chew, "Dodge Macknight: Boston's Watercolor Painter," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2 April 2024, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/dodge-macknight-bostons-watercolor-painter
MarksNotesDated in pencil (recto, upper center): 1901
