ABSTRACT
A work of art's provenance can help us understand it; it can also illumine a nation's social history. The trajectory of Byron through time and space allows us to enter, if briefly and tantalizingly, into the lives of its owners, to explore who they were, where they lived, what idiosyncrasies they possessed. The 'Gallery' was Earle and Sully's Gallery in the artist's adopted city of Philadelphia. A carver and gilder of picture frames, James Earle framed Sully's work and like other carvers and gilders probably displayed paintings in his shop. The modern art gallery was then in its infancy. Such venues as Earle and Sully's were among the few where the public could see works by contemporary artists. Artists occasionally portrayed actors and actresses, sometimes literary figures, without a formal commission. They hoped the subject's fame would sell the painting. The emotional upheaval caused by the First World War stirred interest in American ancestors.
