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John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society

Catalogue Entry

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Keywords
OP.925
The Portico
Alternate titles: His Family—The Portico; My House; The Artist's Family
Late 1890s
Oil on canvas
30 x 30 in. (76.2 x 76.2 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman Stamped lower left: Twachtman Sale [1903 estate sale]
Private collection
Provenance
(American Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman estate sale, March 24, 1903, no. 86, as The Portico);
to C. R. L. Putnam;
Mr. John F. Braun, Philadelphia, by 1920;
to his wife, Mrs. John F. Braun, Philadelphia;
(G. Castano Galleries, Boston, by 1968);
to (Hirschl & Adler, 1968);
to art market, California, 1974;
(Christie's, New York, May 23, 1979, lot 127, as The Artist's Family);
(Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York);
to present collection, 1980.
Exhibitions
1900 Ten American Painters
Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, Exhibition of Paintings, Ten American Painters, March 17–31, 1900, as My House.
1900–II St. Botolph Club
St. Botolph Club, Boston, Exhibition of Paintings: Ten American Painters, April 16–30, 1900, no. 20, as My House.
1903–I American Art Galleries
American Art Galleries, New York, Sale of the Work of the Late John H. Twachtman, exhibition and auction, March 19–24, 1903, no. 86, as The Portico.
1968 Spanierman
Ira Spanierman, New York, John Henry Twachtman, 1853–1902: An Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels, February 3–24, 1968, no. 16, as The Portico.
1968 Hirschl & Adler Galleries
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, The American Impressionists, November 12–30, 1968, no. 89, as His Family—The Portico.
1970 Main Street Galleries
Main Street Galleries, Chicago, Painters at the Hall of Expositions Chicago, 1970, no. 40, pp. 30 ill. in b/w, 31, as The Portico.
1971 Lowe Art Museum
Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, French Impressionists Influence American Artists, March 19–April 25, 1971, no. 175, as His Family—The Portico, lent by Hirschl & Adler Galleries.
1989 Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, In the Sunlight: The Floral and Figurative Art of J. H. Twachtman, May 10–June 10, 1989. (Exhibition catalogue: Boyle 1989); (Exhibition catalogue: Gerdts 1989); (Exhibition catalogue: Spanierman 1989); (Exhibition catalogue: Peters 1989–II); (Exhibition catalogue: Peters 1989–III), no. 13, as The Portico.
Literature
Du Bois 1900
Du Bois, Henri Pené. "Du Bois Says: The Show of the Ten American Painters is Intensely Modern." New York Journal, March 19, 1900, p. 6.
Mail and Express 1900 probably
"Art Notes: Ten American Painters and their Third Annual Exhibition at the Durand-Ruel Gallery." Mail and Express (New York), March 21, 1900, p. 9, as My House.
New York Times 1900 probably
"The Week in Art." New York Times, March 17, 1900, p. 174, as My House.
Walker 1900 probably
Walker, Sophia Antoinette. "Sectaries in Painting." Independent 52 (April 19, 1900), p. 941, as My House.
Sun 1903–II
"Twachtman Pictures, $16,610." Sun (New York), March 25, 1903, p. 5, as The Portico.
Hale 1957
Hale, John Douglass. "Life and Creative Development of John H. Twachtman." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1957. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1958, vol. 2, p. 565 (catalogue A, no. 483), as His Family—The Portico. (Hale concordance).
Sotheby Parke Bernet 1972
20th-Century American Paintings, Sculpture, Watercolors, and Drawings. Auction catalogue, December 13, 1972. New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1972, lot 106 ill. in b/w, as His Family—The Portico.
Christie's, New York 1979
American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Auction catalogue, May 23, 1979. New York: Christie's, 1979, lot 127 ill. in b/w, as The Artist's Family.
Antiques 1979–II
Antiques 116 (November 1979), p. 1067 ill. in color, as The Artist's Family.
Pyne 1989
Pyne, Kathleen A. "John Twachtman and the Therapeutic Landscape." In John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes, by Deborah Chotner, Lisa N. Peters, and Kathleen A. Pyne. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1989. Exhibition catalogue (1989–II National Gallery of Art), p. 56, as His Family—The Portico.
Antiques 1989–I
Antiques 135 (November 1989), pp. 80–81 ill. in b/w, as His Family—The Portico.
Peters 1989–I
Peters, Lisa N. "Twachtman's Greenwich Paintings: Context and Chronology." In John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes, by Deborah Chotner, Lisa N. Peters, and Kathleen A. Pyne. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1989. Exhibition catalogue (1989–II National Gallery of Art), pp. 38–39 ill. in b/w, as The Portico.
Peters 1989–III
Peters, Lisa N. "Catalogue." In In the Sunlight: The Floral and Figurative Art of J.H. Twachtman, by Lisa N. Peters et al. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 1989. Exhibition catalogue (1989 Spanierman), pp. 80–81 ill. in color, as The Portico.
Gerdts 1990–VI
Gerdts, William H. "The Ten: A Critical Chronology." In Ten American Painters, by William H. Gerdts et al. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 1990. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 18, 131 ill. in b/w, as The Portico.
Prebus 1994
Prebus, Cynthia H. "Transitions in American Art and Criticism: The Formative Years of Early American Modernism, 1895–1905," Ph.D dissertation. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers, The State University, 1994, p. 483 ill. in b/w, as The Portico.
Peters 1995
Peters, Lisa N. "John Twachtman (1853–1902) and the American Scene in the Late Nineteenth Century: The Frontier within the Terrain of the Familiar." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, City University of New York, 1995. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International, 1996, vol. 1, p. 386; vol. 2, p. 934 ill. in b/w (fig. 420), as The Portico.
Larkin 1996
Larkin, Susan G. "'A Regular Rendezvous for Impressionists:' The Cos Cob Art Colony 1882–1920." Ph.D. dissertation, 1996. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microforms, 1996, pp. xxvii, 224, 452 ill. in b/w (8.7), as The Portico.
Larkin 1998
Larkin, Susan G. "On Home Ground: John Twachtman and the Familiar Landscape." American Art Journal 29 (1998), pp. 63 ill. in b/w, 64, as The Portico.
Commentary

This painting encompasses a view looking upward toward the front (the south facade) of Twachtman's Greenwich home. In it, he prominently featured the Tuscan-style, temple-front portico, which served as a new front entry to the home after his renovations were completed in the mid-1890s. The portico's design may have been in consultation with Stanford White, but it was probably constructed under Twachtman's guidance.

At the bottom of the stoop are abstractly rendered figures, including the artist's wife and two children, probably the last to be born: Violet (born May 23, 1895) and Godfrey (born December 6, 1897. Their small scale in relation to the home gives it an aura of grandeur. Additionally, an American flag at the upper left adds a nationalistic note to the painting, enhanced by the framing of the neoclassical portico.  

The Portico was shown as My House in the 1900 exhibition of the Ten American Painters, held in New York and Boston. Several reviews of the New York venue of the show mentioned the work. A reviewer for the New York Mail and Express wrote: “'My House,' with its white walls and portico and its green lawn, had considerable charm.” The New York Times critic observed that the painting was “full of air and sunlight.”      

Not purchased from either of the shows, The Portico remained in the artist's hands at the time of his death in 1902 and was included with its current title in his 1903 estate sale. As indicated in the New York Sun, it was purchased from the sale by an individual named C. R. L. Putnam. It was probably Putman who sent it to the Art Club of Philadelphia's nineteenth annual exhibition in 1908. It was there that it might have caught the attention of the prominent Philadelphia collector of American paintings John F. Braun (1866/67–1939), who owned it by 1920.[1] At his death in 1939, Braun bequeathed it to his wife, the musician Edith Evans Braun (1887–1976). By 1968 the work was in the Boston gallery of the Calabrian-born painter, designer, and teacher Giovanni Castano, who sold it that year to Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York.

[1] See “John F. Braun Dead: A Patron of Arts, 72,” New York Times, November 19, 1972, p. 39, and “John F. Braun, “Why Nationalism in Art?” American Magazine of Art 20 (October 1929), pp. 569–70.