A portrait by John Singer Sargent resurfaced recently before being tucked back away, reports Peter Dobrin for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The portrait from 1903 is of Philadelphia businessman Peter A.B. Widener and had been held in storage at the Art Museum for decades.
The Museum recently relinquished the portrait to Widener’s estate, but they did not hold it for long. The estate sold the portrait to Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman in exchange for a donation toward the restoration of Lynnewood Hall in Elkins Park. Widener, the property’s original owner, had it built for himself in 1900.
Sargent was the most prolific portrait painter of his time. The painting is of Widener in Lynnewood Hall.
The sale organizers have not disclosed the painting’s price tag, but experts at the Art Museum estimate its value over $1 million.
Though the donation toward restoration was undoubtedly a charitable number, full restoration of Lynnewood Hall is estimated over $100 million.
Schwarzman is an Abington native, but said that he wasn’t familiar with Lynewood Hall growing up. Still, this isn’t his first tie to the Widener family. He recently purchased the Mirarmar, an estate designed for the Widener’s by the same architect who built Lynnewood.
Read more about the John Singer Sargent painting and its sale at The Philadelphia Inquirer.
