JOHN LA FARGE (1835 1910) Mary Magdalene and Saint Catherine

Sale 2678 - Lot 11

Price Realized: $ 2,860

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000

JOHN LA FARGE (1835-1910)
Mary Magdalene and Saint Catherine (Leah F. Parkhurst Memorial Windows).

Watercolor and pencil on cream wove paper, 1881-82. 241x95 mm; 9½x3¾ inches.

Provenance
Private collection, West Falmouth, Massachusetts.
Purchased from the above by private collector, Massachusetts, 1983.

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Additional Details

This watercolor design for windows was created for the Episcopal Bread of Life Church in Bismarck, North Dakota, constructed in 1880. The windows depict Mary Magdalene with a pot of ointment and Saint Catherine holding a lily. According to the Bismarck Historical Society, the stained glass windows were purchased by Northern Pacific Railway engineer George S. Morison and his assistant, H.W. Parkhurst, in memory of Parkhurst's wife Leah F. Parkhurst, from John La Farge for $600. The church congregation dedicated the windows to Parkhurst on June 1, 1882.

In 1949, the windows were transferred to the newly built Saint George's Church in Bismarck, and the original Bread of Life Church building was sold. In 1972 Saint George's Church donated the windows to the State Historical Society of North Dakota. After the Bread of Life Church building was relocated to the Camp Hancock State Historical Site in Bismarck, the La Farge windows were reinstalled to their original place.