John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society
Catalogue Entry
D.1405
Charcoal Sketch after Captain Bickford's Float
Alternate title: Thumbnail Sketch: Spring Scene, Gloucester
ca. 1900
Charcoal on paper
5 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (14 x 8.9 cm)
Inscribed verso, upper center: 12 x 18 / after your / pen sketch
Private collection
Provenance
by descent in the family to present collection, 1990.
Commentary
One of the twenty-four charcoal sketches that Twachtman sent to his son, Alden, recording compositions he created in Gloucester in the summer of 1900, this drawing depicts the oil, Captain Bickford's Float (OP.1415), which features the Gloucester dock where the former Civil War navy captain John F. Bickford anchored his schooner. The painting was included in Twachtman's three 1901 solo shows and in his 1903 estate sale. On the back of this drawing, Twachtman wrote "after your pen sketch." This suggests that Twachtman's wife and children may have stopped in Gloucester in late June before going on to Bemis, Maine, where they spent the summer. Perhaps Alden had created a sketch of this site during the visit.