Dara Mitchell, Sotheby’s executive vice president and head of its American paintings deparment, which brokered the secret sales of the National Academy’s Church and Gifford paintings to a private foundation, responds to Stealth Deaccessions: National Academy Sells Major Works by Church and Gifford:
While Church’s “Scene on the Magdalene” is an important and rare painting I am surprised to hear it compared to Asher B. Durand‘s “Kindred Spirits,” which is an iconic work of unique stature and arguably one of the most widely known images of American 19th-century art. I think one would be hard pressed to find a knowledgeable scholar, collector or dealer who would not agree that the comparison is a bit of a stretch.