Portrait head of a man, facing forward, looking at the viewer.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The fair-skinned man has curly dark hair, with a slightly receding hairline and moustache, closed lips, no smile, broad chin, we can see both his ears on the sides of his face, his left ear is turned a bit more towards us than the other ear. He is drawn to the base of his neck with a linear suggestion of the shoulders. His head is in the center of the paper with empty space around, no background. The title "Pomare Rex" is written below his portrait.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.575
People
John La Farge, American (New York, NY 1835 - 1910 Providence, RI)
Title
Pomare Rex
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1891 - 1900
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/307919

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Graphite and black chalk on off-white wove paper, mounted on illustration board
Dimensions
mount: 28 x 17.8 cm (11 x 7 in.)
actual: 24.9 x 17.8 cm (9 13/16 x 7 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: lower center, graphite, in artist's hand: Pomare Rex
  • inscription: l.l.c of mount, graphite: [Kin]g Pomare V
  • inscription: verso of mount, graphite: King Pomare
  • inscription: verso of mount, graphite: #5679
  • label: removed from old mat? now in curatorial file, paper, printed: [Design of stone tablet with helmet and rearing lion on shield] Grenville / Lindall / Winthrop

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Scott & Fowles, New York] sold; to Grenville L. Winthrop, 1924, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.575
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

  • Henry A. La Farge, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of John La Farge, Unpublished (n.d.), card 955
  • John La Farge, "Passages from a Diary in the Pacific: Tahiti", Scribner's Magazine (July 1901), pp. 69-83, pp. 69 - 83, ill. p. 77
  • John La Farge, Reminiscences of the South Seas, JLF KPI Ltd. (Garden City, NY, 1912), p. 314, ill.
  • Evelyne de Chazeaux, Lettres des Mers du Sud, Musée de l'Homme (Paris, France, 1974), reproduced after p. 434, plate 19
  • James L. Yarnall, "John La Farge and Henry Adams in the South Seas" (Master's thesis, University of Chicago, 1976), Unpublished, p. 50; reproduced, fig. 19

Exhibition History

  • An Exhibition of the Work of John La Farge, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 03/23/1936 - 04/26/1936
  • Special Exhibition of Drawings, Century Association, New York, 04/08/1938 - 04/30/1938

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu