This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/25/2024
An historically significant PAIR (2) of handwritten signed letters (ALS) from business titan and entrepreneur Cyrus West Field (1819-1892) to American portrait painter Oliver Ingraham Lay. The first letter dated August 5, 1880, Field writes “Please paint another portrait of Mrs. Field to match the last cabinet size one of myself which you have I presume, commenced and which is to show my moustache, as in the large portrait…” In the second letter dated August 9, 1880 Fields continues on the same subject “…I am glad you will be able to paint the cabinet portrait of Mrs. Field. Please commence it & let it match mine with the moustache& silvered hair you are now at work upon. I wish all the portraits, when completed, to be framed & sent to me at Dobbs Ferry by express; and the originals, when you have finished with them, to be forwarded to my house in Gramercy Park.” Lay completed a portrait of Field in 1880 which is reported to be in a private collection currently. An earlier painting of Field by Lay completed in 1872 resides in the National Portrait Gallery. Among the most famous paintings by Lay is the portrait of actor Edwin Booth as Shakespeare’s Hamlet (brother of President Abraham Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth) which also resides in the National Portrait Gallery. Cyrus W. Field had his business roots in the paper business. Apparently having an interest in art as well, in 1853, Field financed an expedition to South America with his artist friend Frederic Edwin Church, inspiring some of Church’s most famous paintings. Working with other entrepreneurs, Field is credited with the creation of the Atlantic Telegraph Company and laying the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean in 1858. Each letter measures 5 X 8. Very good condition.
Authentication: James Spence Authentication (JSA) Letters of Authenticity and a Gotta Have Rock and Roll Certificate of Authenticity.