Mrs. Potter Palmer
artist
Anders Zorn
(Mora, 1860 - 1920, Mora)
subject
Bertha Palmer
(American, 1849 - 1918)
Date1896
Place MadeSweden, Europe
MediumEtching on laid paper
Dimensions40 x 29.8 cm (15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession number4.2.o.151
eMuseum ID729254
EmbARK ObjectID14085
Original Number3.3.o.118
TMS Source ID2913
Last Updated10/3/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentarySwedish artist Anders Zorn first came to America as the commissioner of the Swedish art exhibition at the Chicago's World Fair in 1893. It was there that he met two women who would become important patrons for him: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Bertha Palmer. Mrs. Palmer was the President of the Board of Lady Managers for the Fair and was responsible for exhibits in the Women's Building. She chose Zorn to paint her portrait, now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. He later made this etching of her which is one of many acquired by Isabella.
BibliographyNotesChristine Stansell. "Women Artists and the Problem of Metropolitan Culture: New York and Chicago, 1890-1900." Cultural Leadership in America, Art Matronage and Patronage. Fenway Court, vol. 27 (Boston, 1997), pp. 25-37, no. 1.
Sven Lidbeck, Anders Zorn Etchings: Catalogue Raisonné (Helsinki, 2007), p. 144, ZG207.
Oliver Tostmann et al. Anders Zorn: A European Artist Seduces America. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2013), p. 138, no. 20.
Nathaniel Silver, "Bertha Honoré Palmer, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Anders Zorn," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2 March 2021, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/bertha-honore-palmer-isabella-stewart-gardner-and-anders-zorn
Sven Lidbeck, Anders Zorn Etchings: Catalogue Raisonné (Helsinki, 2007), p. 144, ZG207.
Oliver Tostmann et al. Anders Zorn: A European Artist Seduces America. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2013), p. 138, no. 20.
Nathaniel Silver, "Bertha Honoré Palmer, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Anders Zorn," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2 March 2021, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/bertha-honore-palmer-isabella-stewart-gardner-and-anders-zorn
MarksNotesSigned in plate (lower left): Zorn
Signed in graphite (lower margin): Zorn
Numbered in graphite (verso, lower left corner): A.107
Watermark: Van Gelder
Signed in graphite (lower margin): Zorn
Numbered in graphite (verso, lower left corner): A.107
Watermark: Van Gelder
ProvenanceNotesEntered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection at an unknown date.
