On view
Nancy A. Nasher & David J. Haemisegger Family Hall & Grand Stair
Stairway probably from the Carrer de l’Aigua (Water Street), Palma de Mallorca (a); Gallery (balustrades and columns) from the Can Ayamans (Ayamans House), Palma de Mallorca (b),
15th or 16th century
These architectural elements once formed part of the interior patio of a grand home in Palma de Mallorca, the capital of the Balearic Islands. The stairway led to a second level, which was lined with balustrades and columns.
The journey of these elements to Princeton is astonishingly well documented. In the late 1800s, the patio was renovated and its elements were disassembled. It would be nearly forty years before their purchase by the American dealer Arthur Byne for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who had long been searching for a Spanish patio to adorn his estate in San Simeon, California. The elements were shipped to Hearst’s warehouse in the Bronx in 1929, but they never continued westward. Instead, they were sold in a 1941 New York auction and entered the collection of the Baron and Baroness Cassel van Doorn, who had fled Europe during World War II. The elements were integrated into their home in Englewood, New Jersey, before the Baroness donated them to Princeton in 1955.
Information
15th or 16th century
Europe, Spain, Palma de Mallorca
y1955-3282a (Stairway)
Probably a house on the Carrer de l’Aigua, Palma de Mallorca [1]. Disassembled at an unknown date, likely in the late 19th or early 20th century. Combined with y1955-3282b between 1925 and 1929 by [Josep Costa Ferrer ("Picarol") (1876-1971)] [2]; purchased in 1929 by [Arthur Byne (1884-1935)] [3]; purchased on April 15, 1929, by William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) [4]; exported by Byne to the United States; arrived on September 19, 1929 to the International Studio Art Corporation Warehouse, Bronx, New York [5]; [Hearst’s sale, Gimbel’s Department Store, New York, 1941, lot 275] [6]. Purchased by Baron Jean Germain Léon Cassel van Doorn (1882-1952) and Baroness Marij Vincentia Cassel van Doorn (1911-2006), 1941 [7]; installed in Jevington Manor, 240 Broad Street, Englewood New Jersey, by 1944 [8]; given to Princeton University Art Museum, 1955 [9].
Notes:
[1] Illustrated in Arthur Byne and Mildred Stapley Byne, Majorcan Houses and Gardens: A Spanish Island in the Mediterranean (New York: W. Helburn, 1928), plate 160.
[2] It is possible Costa combined the elements on Arthur Byne’s suggestion to make the ensemble more appealing to his client, William Randolph Hearst. Sculptor Miguel Sacanell performed a restoration treatment on the ensemble.
[3] Picarol's recollections of the purchase of the architectural elements and the 1929 sale to Byne were first published by Luis Ripoll, "Notas sobre unas piedras viejas y su traslado a Norteamérica," Papeles de Son Armadans LXXXIX (1963): 265-271. See also José Miguel Merino de Cáceres and María José Martínez Ruiz, "Arthur Byne, Mildred Stapley, José Costa y el Patio de la Casa Ayamans (Palma de Mallorca): Detalles de un Despojo Artístico en el Contexto de la Promoción Turística Balear," Espacio, Tiempo y Forma VII, no. 10 (2022): 121-150, 137. Byne purchased the ensemble for 20,000 pesetas.
[4] Correspondence regarding the purchase is in the Julia Morgan Papers, California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo: Special Collections and Archives, MS 010, Box 45, Folder 14. Hearst purchased the ensemble for $9,000.
[5] The International Studio Art Corporation was a Hearst Corporation subsidiary located on 143rd Street near Southern Boulevard. The pages from the inventory are now in the Princeton University Art Museum curatorial file: Album 83, Item no. 6, pages 19-22; Lot 275, nos. 1-65.
[6] Art Objects & Furnishings from the William Randolph Hearst Collection: Catalogue Raisonné comprising Illustrations of Representative Works Together with Comprehensive Descriptions of Books, Autographs and Manuscripts and Complete Index (New York: Hammer Galleries, 1941), p. 322, lot 275, no. 1 to 65.
[7] It is likely that the Baron and Baroness purchased the ensemble at Hearst’s sale, but it is also possible they purchased it through a dealer.
[8] See blueprints and archival photographs in the Princeton University Art Museum curatorial file.
[9] Stored in the "Crystal Room" in the basement of Nassau Hall from September 1955 to July 1963; installed in the new Art Museum building in 1965. Some elements of the ensemble, including two windows, may have been lost during this period; it is also possible they were not included in the gift although they were registered on the accession card.
y1955-3282b (Gallery Elements)
Probably Can Ayamans, Carrer d’en Morei, Palma de Mallorca; disassembled in the late 19th century. Purchased by [Josep Costa Ferrer ("Picarol") (1876-1971)], 1925 [1]; combined with y1955-3282a between 1925 and 1929 [2]; purchased in 1929 by [Arthur Byne (1884-1935)] [3]; purchased on April 15, 1929, by William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) [4]; exported by Byne to the United States; arrived on September 19, 1929 to the International Studio Art Corporation Warehouse, Bronx, New York [5]; [Hearst’s sale, Gimbel’s Department Store, New York, 1941, lot 275] [6]. Purchased by Baron Jean Germain Léon Cassel van Doorn (1882-1952) and Baroness Marij Vincentia Cassel van Doorn (1911-2006), 1941 [7]; installed in Jevington Manor, 240 Broad Street, Englewood New Jersey, by 1944 [8]; given to Princeton University Art Museum, 1955 [9].
Notes:
[1] Picarol's recollections of the purchase of the architectural elements and the 1929 sale to Byne were first published by Luis Ripoll, "Notas sobre unas piedras viejas y su traslado a Norteamérica," Papeles de Son Armadans LXXXIX (1963): 265-271. See also José Miguel Merino de Cáceres and María José Martínez Ruiz, "Arthur Byne, Mildred Stapley, José Costa y el Patio de la Casa Ayamans (Palma de Mallorca): Detalles de un Despojo Artístico en el Contexto de la Promoción Turística Balear," Espacio, Tiempo y Forma VII, no. 10 (2022): 121-150. Costa purchased the gallery elements for 3,000 pesetas and moved them to a nearby courtyard owned by architect Gabriel Alomar for a restoration treatment by sculptor Miguel Sacanell.
[2] It is possible Costa combined the elements on Arthur Byne’s suggestion to make the ensemble more appealing to his client, William Randolph Hearst.
[3] Merino de Cáceres and Martínez Ruiz, "Arthur Byne, Mildred Stapley, José Costa," 137. Byne purchased the ensemble for 20,000 pesetas.
[4] Correspondence regarding the purchase is in the Julia Morgan Papers, California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo: Special Collections and Archives, MS 010, Box 45, Folder 14. Hearst purchased the ensemble for $9,000.
[5] The International Studio Art Corporation was a Hearst Corporation subsidiary located on 143rd Street near Southern Boulevard. The pages from the inventory are now in the Princeton University Art Museum curatorial file: Album 83, Item no. 6, pages 19-22; Lot 275, nos. 1-65.
[6] Art Objects & Furnishings from the William Randolph Hearst Collection: Catalogue Raisonné comprising Illustrations of Representative Works Together with Comprehensive Descriptions of Books, Autographs and Manuscripts and Complete Index (New York: Hammer Galleries, 1941), p. 322, lot 275, no. 1 to 65.
[7] It is likely that the Baron and Baroness purchased the ensemble at Hearst’s sale, but it is also possible they purchased it through a dealer.
[8] See blueprints and archival photographs in the Princeton University Art Museum curatorial file.
[9] Stored in the "Crystal Room" in the basement of Nassau Hall from September 1955 to July 1963; installed in the new Art Museum building in 1965. Some elements of the ensemble, including two windows, may have been lost during this period; it is also possible they were not included in the gift although they were registered on the accession card.
