George Henry Yewell (1830–1923)

GEORGE HENRY YEWELL (1830–1923)
General Grant’s Parlor, Drexel Cottage, Mount McGregor, New York, 1885
Oil on canvas, 15 x 19 in.
Signed and dated (at lower left): Geo. H. Yewell—1885.

Although in his later career Yewell concentrated on portraiture, his earlier works consisted largely of genre paintings, Italian views, and interior scenes. The present painting, executed in 1885 and painted in upstate New York, is very much in keeping with interior scenes of that period painted by such artists as William Merritt Chase, Eastman Johnson, Walter Gay, and other European-trained artists. Yewell presents a tastefully decorated interior, spare in its arrangement and neatly organized. Although there are no figures in the painting, the eclectic arrangement of objects on the bureau as well as the collection of paintings and portraits on the walls imply a personal presence. Yewell demonstrates a mastery of light and shadow, and the busy but controlled brushwork of the patterned wall and decorative rug make the surface of the canvas as much an expression of beauty and taste as the objects depicted.

Yewell’s choice of this interior was no accident: it is the parlor of Drexel Cottage in Mount McGregor in the Adirondacks, the final home of General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant arrived at Drexel Cottage by train in June 1885 and completed his personal memoirs with the support of his family and his publisher, Mark Twain. Three days later, on July 23, 1885, Grant died of cancer in the cottage. Today, the cottage is preserved as the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Cottage State Historic Site & National Historic Landmark.