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Commissioned by Sir Robert Smyth, fifth Baronet Smyth of Upton (1744–1802), Berechurch Hall, Essex, England, from Henry Fuseli (1741–1825), the artist [1][a]; by descent to his son, Sir George Henry Smyth, sixth Smyth of Upton (1784–1852), Berechurch Hall, Essex, England [2]; by descent to his grandson, Thomas George Graham White (1834–1877), Berechurch Hall, Essex, England; purchased at auction by Eben William Wynn Edwards (1857–1919), London, England at Christie, Manson & Woods, in London, England, March 23, 1878 (lot 21, ‘The Death of Dido’), in "The Valuable Collection of Pictures of Thomas George Graham White, Esq." [3][b][c]; purchased at auction by ‘Cohen’ at Christie, Manson & Woods, in London, England, July 25, 1907 (lot 94, ‘The Death of Dido’), in "Ancient and modern pictures and water colour drawings" [4][d]; ...; acquired by Salon Bollag, Zürich, Switzerland by 1913 [5][e][f]; sale, Salon Bollag, Zürich, Switzerland, December 16, 1913 (lot 21, ‘Tod der Dido’) [g]; …; acquired by Heinrich-Albert Trüeb-Baumann (1894–1981), Château d’Hauterive, Neuchâtel, Switzerland by 1941 [6][h][i]; transferred to Charlotte Baumann (1905–1987), Zürich, Switzerland by 1954 [7]; …; Graham Galleries, New York, NY, United States by 1960 [8][j][k]; Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York, NY, United States by 1974 [9][l][m]; purchased by Paul Mellon (1907–1999), 1976 [n]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, 1976.

Notes:
[1] Robert Smyth was a Member of Parliament from 1774 to 1790 and a principal patron of Fuseli. Smyth first met Fuseli in Italy, during the latter’s eight year-long tour. Smyth commissioned seven paintings from Fuseli.
Following Smyth’s defeat in the 1790 general election, he relocated to Paris and became a banker. A dedicated supporter of the French Revolution, Smyth joined the British revolutionary club in Paris and supported the abolition of titles.

[2] George Henry Smyth was a British politician and Member of Parliament. Smyth married Eva Elmore (1779–1851) in 1815 and the couple had one daughter, Charlotte White (née Smyth) (1813–1845). Because Charlotte’s birth occurred before the couple’s official union, she was considered illegitimate. As a result, the baronetcy became extinct upon Smyth’s death. Smyth’s remaining estate passed onto Charlotte’s children.

[3] Eben William Wynn Edwards was the grandson of Charlotte White and a direct descendant of Robert and George Henry Smyth. Because his uncle, Thomas George Graham White, died without issue, White’s remaining estate was sent to auction. In addition to this picture, Edwards also purchased Fuseli’s Beatrice Listening (1789–1791).

[4] ‘Cohen’ possibly refers to Goodwin Field Cohen (1844–1921), a British carver and gilder who went on to become a picture dealer and frame maker in the 1890s. Following Cohen's retirement in 1920, his sons adopted the surname Field and took over his dealing business as the Field Brothers.

[5] According to a published response from the gallery owners Gustave (1873–1953) and Léon Bollag (1876–1958) in a 1928 Neue Zürcher Zeitung issue, Salon Bollag purchased the painting in England and brought it to Switzerland. The brothers proposed the painting for purchase to the City Council of Zürich before bringing it to auction in Winter 1913. The gallery lent the painting to Kunsthaus Zürich’s exhibition "Zeichnungen von Heinrich Füßli," which took place from April to May 1913. The painting was no. 54 in the exhibition and titled ‘Selbstopferung Didos.’

[6] Heinrich-Albert Trüeb was a Swiss German writer, art collector, and convicted criminal. In 1933, Trüeb began managing the Château d’Hauterive as the sole director of the Le château d'Hauterive S.A. company. He aspired to bring artworks into the château to support the property’s development, with this painting collected for the project. Trüeb lent the painting to Kunsthaus Zürich’s 1941 exhibition "Gedächtnisausstellung: Johann Heinrich Füssli 1741–1825" as no. 7, ‘Dido auf dem Scheiterhaufen.’
In 1950, Trüeb’s sister-in-law, Charlotte Baumann (1905–1987), accused him of theft and breach of trust. Shortly before World War II began, Baumann married a German man and relocated to Munich. Sensing the nation’s rising tensions, Baumann entrusted Trüeb and her sister, Eva Ilse Gerda Baumann (1904–1989), with safeguarding her assets in Switzerland to avoid their seizure from the Nazis. In 1946, Baumann returned to Switzerland and requested the return of her assets. However, more than 150,000 francs were missing from the original amount.
Baumann brought Trüeb to court, where he confessed that he appropriated some of the funds for personal use under the impression that he was allowed to do so. With the stolen money, he purchased furniture and artworks for the château—including Dido. The case was highly publicized in cantonal newspapers and underwent three trials due to appeals from Trüeb before he was finally sentenced in 1952 to 18-months imprisonment, restitution, and a fine.

[7] Due to its status as an object purchased with stolen assets, the painting was transferred to Baumann’s possession, possibly as a form of restitution. From September 1954 to January 1957, Baumann entered into a loan agreement with Kunsthaus Zürich to exhibit the painting. The painting was originally inventoried as "J. H. Füssli: Tod der Kriemhilde," but later corrected to "Dido auf dem Scheiterhaufen." This information was provided by Kunsthaus Zürich.

[8] The Graham Gallery in New York City featured the painting (no. 12, ‘Tot der Dido’) in its 1961 exhibition ‘Romantic Painting,’ which took place from April 21 to May 20. The exhibition was first advertised with an image of the painting in the Winter 1960 issue of Art Quarterly. The painting remained with the gallery until at least 1973.

[9] The Graham Gallery likely sold the painting directly to Richard L. Feigen (1930–2021) due to the two firms’ pre-existing relationship. American art dealer and gallery owner David Herbert (1920–1995) worked at the Graham Gallery from 1969 to 1975 and was in partnership with Feigen from 1962 to 1964. It is possible that Herbert facilitated the sale of the painting to Feigen. Feigen would lend the painting to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s "The Grand Gallery" exhibition (no. 166, ‘The Death of Dido’), which took place from October 19, 1974, to January 5, 1975.

Citations:
[a] D.H. Weinglass, "Smyth, Sir Robert, fifth baronet (1744–1802), patron of the arts and radical," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (September 2004). https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-62976.
[b] Algernon Graves, Art Sales from Early in The Eighteenth Century to Early in The Twentieth Century, vol. 1, A to G (Algernon Graves, 1918), 305. https://archive.org/embed/graves-art-sales-vol-1.
[c] Christie, Manson & Woods, Catalogue of the Valuable Collection of Pictures of Thomas George Graham White, Esq., deceased, Grandson and Heir of the late Sir G.H. Smyth, Bart. M.P., late of Berechurch Hall, Essex (London: William Clowes & Sons, 1878), 5.
[d] Christie, Manson & Woods, Catalogue of Ancient and Modern Pictures and Water Colour Drawings (William Clowes & Sons, 1907), 16. https://digitalprojects.wpi.art/auctions/detail?date=1907&place=40
city
London
country
United%20Kingdom&page=4&a=126614-catalogue-of-ancient-and-modern-pictures-and-water.
[e] "Kleine Chronik," Neue Zürcher Zeitung, June 11, 1928. https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=NZZ19280611-03.2.31.
[f] Kunsthaus Zürich, Zeichnungen von Heinrich Füßli (Neuen Zürcher Zeitung, 1913), 7. https://digital.kunsthaus.ch/viewer/image/47827/1/.
[g] Salon Bollag, Sammlung von Ölgemälden Moderner Schweizer Maler u. Anderer (W. Steffen, 1913), 7. https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.33957#0007.
[h] Kunsthaus Zürich, Gedächtnisausstellung: Johann Heinrich Füssli 1741–1825 (Kunsthaus Zürich, 1941), 7. https://digital.kunsthaus.ch/viewer/image/44424/1/.
[i] L.D., "Une étrange affaire d'abus de confiance devant le Tribunal correctionnel de La Chaux-de-Fonds," La sentinelle 62, no. 165, June 19, 1951. https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=LSE19510719-01.2.21.
[j] Graham Gallery, Romantic Painting: April 21–May 19, 1961 (Graham, 1961), no. 12.
[k] Gert Schiff, Johann Heinrich Füssli (Berichthaus & Prestel, 1973), 487, no. 713.
[l] Gert Schiff, Henry Fuseli, 1741–1825 (Tate Gallery, 1975), 74, no. 54. https://archive.org/embed/henryfuseli174110000schi.
[m] The International Confederation of Dealers in Works of Art, The Grand Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Hennage Creative Printers, 1974), 171.
[n] Malcolm Cormack, A Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 1985), 94. https://archive.org/embed/concisecatalogue0000yale.