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Lot 25

Dennis Miller Bunker
(American, 1861-1890)
Portrait of Doctor Royal Whitman (1858-1946) 12 x 9 1/4in

20 May 2015, 14:00 EDT
New York

Sold for US$65,000 inc. premium

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Dennis Miller Bunker (American, 1861-1890)

Portrait of Doctor Royal Whitman (1858-1946)
signed and dated 'Al Signor Dottor / D.M. Bunker / 1885' (upper right)
oil on canvas laid down on board
12 x 9 1/4in

Footnotes

Provenance
Doctor Royal Whitman (1885–1934), the sitter.
Mr. Armitage Whitman (1887–1962), son of the above, by descent.
Mrs. Fraunziska Whitman (1897–1988), New York, wife of the above.
With Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1978.
Private collection, acquired from the above.
Private collection, acquired from the above.
With Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1996.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Exhibited
New Britain, Connecticut, The New Britain Museum of Art, and elsewhere, Dennis Miller Bunker (1868–1890) Rediscovered, April 1-May 7, 1978, no. 47.
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, and elsewhere, Dennis Miller Bunker: American Impressionist, January 13-June 4, 1995, pp. 49–50, 116, 172, 182, n. 81, 138, no. 20, illustrated.

Dr. Royal Whitman, a specialist in joint diseases, was renowned during his lifetime as an orthopedic surgeon. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, and a member of German, French, Russian, and Italian medical associations. He died in New York, where he had held many different posts. Whitman was friends with Bunker, whom he met as a fellow member of the Tavern Club in Boston, Massachusetts.

In a letter from Dennis Miller Bunker to Joseph T. Evans, dated November 24–25, 1885, the artist references what is very likely this work as "one of the least objectionable things that I've made lately, but it is very hard and very yellow, although much lighter in key than the one I made of Kenneth [Cranford]." (Dennis Miller Bunker Papers, Archives of American Art)

Additional information

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