Robert Walter Weir's Columbus before the Council of Salamanca

Robert Walter Weir is likely best known for his "Embarkation of the Pilgrims", a 12' by 18' oil on canvas painting which is in the U.S. Capitol rotunda. That same picture appears on the back of the U.S. $10,000 bill (and an old $50 bill). Weir was Instructor of Drawing at West Point Military Academy for 42 years. The highest price at auction for one of his paintings was for Greenwich Boat Club, purchased for $1,202,500 by Princeton University.

Columbus Before the Council of Salamanca
(no known images of: 1837 painting, 1958 tracing).
Undated, unsigned sketch	1877 Painting	1884 Painting

Versions:

Year	Medium	Size	Signed	Exhibited	Details	Image
Undated (ca 1878-1884?)	Sketch, pen and ink	13 1/4" x 17 1/2"	Unsigned	1976 West Point (#46)	Referred to as an 'undated pen and ink sketch in a Massachusetts private collection' by Ahrens (p75). "Robert Weir: Artist and Teacher of West Point" refers to an unsigned ink drawing "Study for Columbus before the Council at Salamanca", 13 1/4" x 17 1/2", at the West Point Museum Collection. These two sources appear to be referring to the same sketch (likely donated to the West Point Museum Collection between Ahrens and the exhibit): the sketch at West Point has gridlines, as does the 'private collection' one mentioned in Ahrens. So what was the purpose of this sketch? There is a chance that it could be the tracing that Weir sent to Meigs in 1859 (which "cannot be located"), as this sketch is quite large compared to most Robert Walter Weir sketches, and the sketch was donated to West Point by a descendant of Robert Walter Weir (which is plausible if the tracing were returned to Weir). I think a more likely explanation is that it was used to make the 1884 painting (an "enlarged replica" of the 1877). To me, it seems to be much closer in composition to the 1884 version (e.g. the placement of the people is nearly identical; it has the 'zig-zag' on the top, Columbus' hand is above his head). If done before the 1877 painting, why would he not have incorporated those features into the 1877 painting?
1837	Oil	Small1	Unknown	1841 1864	Exhibited at National Academy of Design in 1841 (#22), with many mentions in newspapers and books (New York Mirror, 06 Jan 1838 (full writeup); New York Mirror, 22 May 1841; The Knickerbocker, July 1841; The American Repertory of Arts, Sciences and Manufactures, Volume 3, 1841; The Iris, Or Literary Messenger, Volume 1, ~1841, Arcturus: A Journal of Books and Opinion, Volume 2, 1841). No visual record is known (e.g. Ahrens p72). Was referred to as Weir's 'chef-d'ouevre' (masterpiece). The Smithsonian's Pre-1877 Art Exhibition Catalogue Index shows what appears to be the 1837 painting exhibited at the Artists' Fund Society, New York, New York, 1864, as entry #258, #260, or #266 . A New York Times article of the 1864 exhibit felt that the painting lacked the quality of newer paintings ("such expressionless faces" contrasts with 1841-era statements).	No pictures known
1858	Tracing	Likely small	Unknown	n/a	This is a tracing that was made around 1858, as a "mock up" of what Weir hoped would be a commission for another large painting at the U.S. Capitol rotunda. It was sent from Weir to the U.S. Captitol. No record of it appears to exist outside of references in letters. I do not believe any paintings were made in 18582.	No pictures known
1877	Oil on Wood Panel	8 7/8" x 12"	Robt W. Weir, 1877 (lower right)	1878	Reportedly exhibited at the 1878 annual National Academy of Design exhibition, #536. Location unknown until about 2000, when it appeared at Charleston Renaissance Gallery. It was no longer listed on their website as of late 2002. It then was up for auction on eBay briefly by Neal Auctions before a traditional auction, where it sold as Lot 361 for $10,575. It claimed "By inheritance, through the family of the artist; purchased from a descendant by the present owner." It then was auctioned in September, 2010, with a $5K-$10K estimate, sold for $16,450. It then went to auction in September, 2016, with a $5K-$6K estimate, but did not sell. Finally, it was sold for a "Best Offer" on eBay (by the September, 2016 auctioneer), with a Buy-It-Now price of $4,500. Oddly, Artists of the Nineteenth Century and Their Works a Handbook says that "at present (1878)" "Columbus Before the Council of Salamanca" was "a nearly completed picture." The timing suggests that would be the 1877-dated painting.
1878	Book, wood engaving	~6"x8"	n/a	n/a	A wood engaving of the 1877 painting. Ahrens refers to 1881, but the copy I found is dated 1879 with a 1878 copyright date. Notable mainly because there were no images or references to the 1877 painting when Ahrens wrote his dissertation, so he relied on it to help figure out how many paintings were made.
1884	Oil on canvas	29 1/4" x 40 1/8"	Robt W. Weir, 1884 (lower left)	1976 West Point (#47)	Owned by West Point Museum Collections. Referred to at the 1976 exhibition as "Apparently the last and only extant" Columbus Before the Council of Salamanca. Has white tiled floor with diamonds connecting each, like Powell's 1847 painting. Has a jacket(?) on the chair. Referred to as "an enlarged replica of No. 874" (presumably the 1877 version) at the estate auction of Robert Walter Weir in 1891.

Differences

• The woodcut can be ignored: it is based on the 1877 verion, but as it was not made by Robert Walter Weir, any slight differences are not relevant.
• Chairs: The chair in the undated sketch is very different than the chairs in the 1877/1884 versions. The 1884 version has clothes draped over it.
  
• Top of Painting: Both the undated sketch and the 1884 versions have a 'zig-zag' on the top, the 1877 version does not.
• Left of Painting: The 1884 version has one or two statues (perhaps 'scales of justice', per Ahrens). The sketch and 1877 version do not (I do not recall descriptions of the 1837 painting mentioning statues).
• Background: The 1884 version has an elaborate background with Jesus, the sketch and 1877 versions do not.
• Books: The sketch has 2 books on the floor, compared to 3 in the 1877/1884 versions.
  
• Floor: The 1884 version has diamonds on the square floor segments, whereas the sketh and 1877 versions appear to have wooden planks.
• All versions (including the 1837 version) have a man with his hand to his ear in about the same location.

Alternate Names:

• "Columbus Before the Council of Salamanca" (primary title)
• "Columbus pleading the cause of the New World" in a letter by Robert Weir
• "Christopher Columbus Arguing for a Western Route to the Indies, before the Council of Clerics and Scholars at Salamanca" per an auction catalog
• "Columbus Describing His Voyage Before the Council of Salamanca" (e.g. American Art Journal #25 1/2 1993, p89, referring to the 1884 painting)
• "Study for Columbus before the Council at Salamanca" (the sketch)

Provenances:

• Likely commissioned by Swinton Ball, Esq. around 1837.
• Owned by Albert Sumner at the 1841 exhibition.³
• Owned by Gordon Lester Ford at the 1864 exhibition. Mr. Ford was a founder of the Brooklyn Art Association. The Smithsonian's Pre-1877 Art Exhibition Catalogue Index states "At time of exhibition in the collection of Ford, Gordon L.", apparently Gordon Lester Ford, who had 8 children.
• There has been no sign of this painting since 1864. It could have been passed down through one of his 8 children, sold, or destroyed.

• Item #874 at the no-reserve Robert Walter Weir estate auction in 1891.
• The 2006 auction stated it was "by inheritance, through the family of the artist" and stayed in the family for quite some time
• Purchased from a family member at an unknown point in time
• Sold at auction in 2006, 2010, and finally in 2017 to the present owner.

• Sold at Robert Walter Weir's estate auction in 1891, as #888.
• Col. Thomas Lincoln Casey, Jr. (Robert Walter Weir's grandson via Emma Casey)
• Mrs. Thomas L. Casey (Col. Thomas Lincoln Casey, Jr.'s wife, a/k/a Laura Casey)
• West Point Museum, West Point, New York. Col. Thomas Lincoln Casey, Jr. died on February, 3, 1925. On April 17, 1925, Mrs. Thomas L. Casey wrote to the West Point Museum regarding the painting, and presumably donated it that year.
• As of around 2016, still at the West Point Museum.

References

• Robert Walter Weir (1803-1889). Ahrens, Kent. University of Delaware, 1972. This is the definitive guide to Robert Walter Weir, and includes in-depth pre-Internet research (e.g. talking with descendants and finding references that would otherwise be lost in time).
• Rave Reviews: American Art and Its Critics, 1826-1925. Dearinger, David Bernard. National Academy of Design, 2000. Although Weir is only discussed on pages 181-182, the article on Columbus Before the Council of Salamanca is impressively researched: the author is aware of the 1877 painting that had only just surfaced, discovered that the 1837 painting never went to Swinton Ball, and discovered that the 1877 and 1884 paintings were auctioned in 1891.
• Robert Weir, Artist and Teacher of West Point. Cadet Fine Arts Forum of the United States Corps of Cadets, 1976. This is the catalog that went with the 1976 West Point Robert Walter Weir exhibition. It has pictures of the 1884 painting and the undated sketch, but otherwise does not add information.

Footnotes:

1. Eliott refers to this as "ambitiously-scaled." However, I suspect that was in error, instead referring to the larger 1884 version. I have seen no record of the size of this painting. Arcturus: A Journal of Books and Opinion, Volume 2 p61 refers to it as a "cabinet picture", a painting modest in size (Wikipedia says no more than 2 feet on either side, often much smaller).
2. It seems that the sources showing an 1858 painting base it on Ahrens, who stated "Weir turned at least 4 times to the theme of Columbus Before the Council and Salamanca -- in 1837, 1858, 1877 and 1884" (stating "turned to", not "painted"). He then writes a paragraph on Columbus, a paragraph on the 1837 painting, and then a paragraph saying Weir "returned to the Columbus theme when he unsuccessfully sought a second commission for the Capitol in Washington" in 1858. It mentions a tracing that was sent along with the request for a commission, but no painting. He then moves on to the 1877 version. So it sounds to me like the 1858 version is the tracing.
3. The January 6, 1838 New York Mirror has an in-depth description of the 1837 painting. They said that it was owned by Swinton Ball, Esq. of Charleston, SC. However, in Rave Reviews it is shown that Mr. Ball died before the New York Mirror article was published. By 1841, it was owned by Albert Sumner, who exhibited it at the National Academy of Design exhibition.