The following description has been prepared entirely by the current owner, Roberts S. Fastov, Esq., and, at the collector’s request, has not been edited by Sloans & Kenyon

 

 

Note 1) Per Askart.com, the following brief biographical sketch of Church is reprinted:

 

“Known for his decorative work with a sense of fun and humor, especially of anthropomorphic animals, Frederic Stuart Church was a native of Michigan who had a long career in New York City. He had in-depth knowledge of animal anatomy, which was evident in the depictions of this subject in oil, watercolor, and etchings.

His first allegorical compositions were produced in the mid-1870's. Although he was a strong believer in academic training, Church did not visit Europe until late in life and felt that foreign art had little to teach Americans.

He was directed by his parents toward a business career, and worked from the age thirteen to seventeen for the American Express Company in Chicago. He did a lot of drawing in his spare time.

For three years, he served in Union artillery during the Civil War, and then returned to Chicago where he studied at the Chicago Art Academy with Walter Shirlaw.

In 1870, he moved to New York and studied at the National Academy of Design with Lemuel Wilmarth and at the Art Students League. Early on, he earned his living as a commercial artist including illustrations for “Harper's Weekly.” His illustrations often featured black and white drawings of animals.

He also worked in watercolors and oils and was especially skilled as an etcher.

He was a member of the National Academy of Design.

Source: Michael David Zellman, “300 Years of American Art”

 

Note 2) Stuart's works of art are owned by 20 relatively prominent American museums, including: Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, NY, National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian Museum of American Art, both of Washington, D.C., Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ, The National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, RI, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit MI, and Smith College Museum of Art, Northhampton, MA.

 

Note 3) This Church painting should be very appealing, as it involves a beautiful damsel feeding 5 cute little bunny rabbits in a meadow, which is typical of Stuart's subjects, except that Stuart painted similar subject matter of animals being fed by young women in different compositional settings, but preferred flamingos, swans, deer and tigers. This is a rare Stuart subject matter, as out of the 125 Stuart works of art that have been offered at auction from 1982 to the present, per Askart.com, not one Stuart painting has depicted bunny rabbits being fed by a young woman. The only Stuart painting that even has any rabbits in it is the following very unusual and somewhat bizarre composition.

Description: Brunk Auctions - woman skating with a line of polar bears, onlooking rabbits

Title/Subject: Woman skating with a line of polar bears, onlooking rabbits (Emphasis added) Signed on verso. Oil on canvas. 18.10 in. x 33 in. sold for $4,000 on 01/03/2009-01/04/2009 at Brunk Auctions, Ashville, NC.

 

 

Thus, this Stuart painting, which is being offered at auction, should have broad appeal because of its featuring cute, little bunny rabbits, may be a unique, or, at a minimum, very rare subject in Stuart's oeuvre; and thus; offers an opportunity to purchase, at a minimum, a very rare and attractive Stuart composition. The above estimates for this Stuart painting are consistent with the foregoing considerations and the auction prices obtained for some of Stuart's most appealing paintings set forth below. It is curious that Stuart used essentially the same composition of a kneeling damsel in a meadow tending animals, however, it is also bizarre as the damsel is tending tigers in the same kind of bucolic meadow, as appears in the Stuart bunny rabbit painting.

 


Description: Sotheby's New York, Arcade - Calming the Savage Beasts

Title/Subject: Calming the Savage Beasts Signed. Oil on canvas. 24 in. x 43 in. sold for $14,950 on 03/25/1997 at Sotheby’s, NY

 

 

Some other relevant Church auction sales supporting a conclusion that the above presale estimate of $5,000-$7,000 is reasonable and justifiable are:

Description: Heritage Auctions (HA.com) - Maiden with Flamingos

Title/Subject: Maiden with Flamingos Signed. Oil on canvas. 22 in. x 16 in. sold for $5,975 on 11/10/2010 at Heritage Auctions, Dallas, TX

Description: Illustration House, Inc - THE BLUE BIRD 

Title/Subject: The Blue Bird Signed on verso. Oil on canvas. 22 in. x 16 in. sold for $6,325 on 12/06/2008 at Illustration House, Inc, NYC

Description: Jackson's Auctioneers & Appraisers - Allegory of Love or Spring

Title/Subject: Allegory of Love or Spring Signed. Oil on canvas. 10 in. x 17 in. sold for $5,428 on 07/15/2008-07/16/2008 at Jackson's Auctioneers & Appraisers, Cedar Falls, IA

Description: Christie's New York, Rockefeller Center - Maiden with flamingos

Title/Subject: Maiden with flamingos Signed. Oil on canvas. 20 in. x 16.25 in. sold for $5,250 on 09/05/2007-09/06/2007 at Christie’s, NY

 

 

Description: Sotheby's New York, Arcade - Fairy on a Branch with Owls

Title/Subject: Fairy on a Branch with Owls Signed. Oil on canvas. 10.70 in. x 18.50 in. sold for $6,600 on 12/14/2005 at Sotheby’s, NY

Description: Illustration House, Inc - Tiger having eaten professor

Title/Subject: Tiger having eaten professor, 1905 Signature information not available. Watercolor on paper. 15.20 in. x 23 in. sold for $9,350 on 11/06/1999 at Illustration House, Inc, NYC