The Last Sleep
Artist
George Cochran Lambdin
American, 1830–1896
Datecirca 1858
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions40 x 54 3/4 in. (101.6 x 139.1 cm)
Frame: 52 x 66 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. (132.1 x 169.5 x 11.4 cm)
Frame: 52 x 66 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. (132.1 x 169.5 x 11.4 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Vogt
Object numberG.79.4.1
On View
Not on viewPublished References“Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (review)," The Crayon 5 (June 1858), 179.
James Freeland, “Sketchings/National Academy of Design” (review) in The Crayon 6, no. 5 (May 1859), noted 153.
"Sketchings/National Academy of Design: Second Notice (review)," The Crayon 6 (June 1859), discussed 192.
Paul Mantz, Les Beaux-Arts a l’Exposition Universelle,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 23 (July 1867), briefly discussed 229.
Catalogue of the First Exhibition at Wiswell’s Gallery (Cincinnati, OH: Academy of Fine Arts, 1868), listed as no. 29.
Catalogue of the Third Annual Exhibition (Washington, DC: Washington Art Association, 1869), listed 4 as no. 70.
Henry T. Tuckerman, Book of the Artists; American Artist Life (1867; reprint New York: James F. Carr, 1967), 450–451.
Paul Mantz, "Les Beaux-Arts à l'Exposition Universelle, X, Les Etats-Unis," (review) Gazette des Beaux-Arts ser. 1, no. 23 (September 1867), discussed 229.
Frank Leslie, Paris Universal Exposition, 1867: Report of the United States Commissioners: Report on the Fine Arts (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1868), listed in Appendix A, no. 49 (as The Last Sleep).
M. Michel Chevalier, Exposition Universelle de 1867 à Paris: Rapports du Jury International, Vol. 1 (Paris: Imprimerie Administrative de Paul Dupont, 1868), noted 51.
Second Annual Exhibition of the Yale School of the Fine Arts (New Haven: Yale, 1870), listed as no. 41.
Eugene Benson, "American Art in the Yale Art Gallery," The Palladium (June 16, 1870), 4, mentioned.
Clara Erskine Clement and Laurence Hutton, Artists of the Nineteenth Century and Their Works, 2 Vols. (Boston: Houghton, Osgood and Co., 1879), noted Vol. 2, 32.
Anne H. Wharton, “Some Philadelphia Studios,” in The Decorator and Furnisher 7, no. 3 (December 1885), mentioned 78.
Phoebe Lloyd, Death and American Painting: Charles Willson Peale to Albert Pinkham Ryder (Ph.D. dissertation, City University of New York, 1980), 122–125, illus. fig. 57.
Martha V. Pike, A Time to Mourn: Expressions of Grief in Nineteenth Century America (exhibition catalogue) (Stony Brook: Museums at Stony Brook, 1980), no. 42, illus. (b-w).
Philippe Aries, Images de l'homme devant la mort (Paris: Seuil, 1983), discussed 265, illus. (color) pl. 9.
Carol Troyen "Innocents Abroad: American Painters at the 1867 Exposition Universelle, Paris," American Art Journal 16 (Autumn 1984), 2–29, listed 26 (translation of French catalogue checklist).
Ruth Irwin Weidner, George Cochran Lambdin, 1830–1896 (exhibition catalogue) (Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine River Museum, 1986), discussed 21–22, 34, illus. (b-w) fig. 3.
Elements of Literature, Vol. 5 (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987), illus. (color) 239.
Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 230.
Jay Ruby, Secure the Shadow: Death and Photography in America (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995), 65, illus. (b-w) fig. 18.
Jill McCorkle, "The Last Sleep," in The Store of Joys, Huston Paschal, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1997), 48–51, illus. (color) 48. Reprinted in North Carolina Literary Review no. 6 (Greenville: East Carolina University, 1997), 34–38, illus. (color) 35.
The Dictionary of Art, Vol. 18, Jane Turner, ed. (London: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 1996), 670.
Charles C. Eldredge, et al, Tales From the Easel: American Narrative Paintings from Southeastern Museums, circa 1800–1950 (exhibition catalogue) (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2004), cat. no. 39, illus. (color).
Kate Flint, “Photographic Memory,” online at Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net 53 (February 2009): http://www.erudit.org/revue/ravon/2009/v/n53/029898ar.html
Jill McCorkle, "The Last Sleep" in “You Are the River: Literature Inspired by the North Carolina Museum of Art,” edited by Helena Feder (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2021), illus (color) 128.Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia, PA, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, "Thirty-fifth Annual Exhibition," April 20–June 19, 1858, no. 147 (as "Life and thought/Here no longer dwell;/ But in city glorious/ A great and distant city they have bought/ A mansion incorruptible."--Tennyson; listed as owned by the artist and for sale).
Washington, DC, Washington Art Association, "Third Annual Exhibition," January 20–March 4, 1859, no. 70 (as The Last Sleep).
New York, NY, National Academy of Design, "Thirty-fourth Annual Exhibition," April 12–June 25, 1859, no. 296.
Paris, France, "Exposition Universelle," April 1–October 31, 1867, listed in catalogue under United States, no. 49 (as Le Dernier Sommeil).
New York, NY, American Society of Painters of Water Colors, "First Winter Exhibition, including ... the works from the American Art Department of the Paris Universal Exposition," 1867–1868, no. 659 (as The Last Sleep).
Cincinnati, OH, Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts, "First Exhibition," 1868, no. 29 (as The Last Sleep).
Buffalo, NY, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, "Annual Exhibition," 1869, no. 112 (as The Last Sleep, and for sale).
New Haven, CT, Yale School of Fine Arts, "Second Annual Exhibition," June 8–early Fall, 1870, no. 41 (as The Last Sleep).
Philadelphia, PA, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1889 (lent by Dr. A.C. Lambdin).
Stony Brook, NY, Museums at Stony Brook, "A Time to Mourn: Expressions of Grief in Nineteenth Century America," May 2 November 16, 1980; Chadds Ford, PA, Brandywine River Museum, January 1–May 17, 1981, no. 42, illus. (b-w).
Columbus, GA, The Columbus Museum, "Tales from the Easel: Narrative Paintings from Southern Museums," February 8–April 11, 2004; Tampa, FL, Tampa Museum of Art, April 25–July 11, 2004; Louisville, KY, J.B. Speed Art Museum, September 14–December 12, 2004; El Paso, TX, El Paso Museum of Art, January 16–April 10, 2005, cat. no. 39, illus. (color).
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