Gray’s Elegy (New York Sketch Club)

Item

Title

Gray’s Elegy (New York Sketch Club)

Creator

James Henry Cafferty
American, 1819–1869

Date

1853

Materials

Ink on paper

Description

Beginning in 1840s, James Henry Cafferty worked as portrait, landscape, and genre painter. He was also a member of the New York Sketch Club, which formed in 1829 and hosted informal meetings where artists would sketch on a chosen theme. As apparent from Cafferty’s inscription, the subject on February 26, 1853, was devoted to Thomas Gray’s 1751 poem “Elegy Written in Country Church Yard.” The New York Times reported that club gatherings in December 1854 and May 1855 were held in Cafferty’s studio.

Source

The John Driscoll American Drawings Collection

Identifier

2018.105

Rights

This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses may not be permitted.