The Fountain, c. 1923
Oil on canvas board Charles Webster Hawthorne, American, 1872–1930, art advisor, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, 1923–30

Signed, lower right: C. Hawthorne

24 x 24 in. (2009-018)

Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872–1930) painted The Fountain in the summer of 1923 while he was an art advisor and artist-in-residence at the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation at Laurelton Hall on Long Island. The focus of the painting is a fountain topped by a bronze sculpture by Elihu Vedder (1836–1923) entitled The Boy. Set in the Laurelton Hall formal gardens with the mansion's south façade in the background, the Vedder fountain is a wonderful testament to the artistic inspiration Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933) provided to all who visited. From 1920 to about 1940, the Tiffany Foundation invited artists to study and create at Laurelton Hall as part of its mission. Today these works from Laurelton Hall are difficult to find and many are likely lost. Hawthorne studied painting at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League. In 1899, he founded the Cape Cod School of Art.