George Bramhall, 1847-1925
Nationality: American
Date of Birth: 13 July 1847
Identity:
George Washington Bramhall (1847-1925) of South Orange, New Jersey, was a collector.
Life:
Bramhall, the son of Moses Barlow Bramhall (1815-1874) and Emily Morrel (b. ca 1817), was married to Annie M. Jaques (1847-1921). Together they had two daughters, Emilie M. (1877-1929) and Georgiana (b. 1880), and two sons, Jacques (b. 1883) and Anson Dudley (b. 1885).
Bramhall was reputed to have the best collection of Whistler etchings in New Jersey, but unfortunately his South Orange home went on fire on 5 May 1890 and his Whistler etching collection was destroyed along with some works by Seymour Haden and Thomas Moran, a loss amounting to around $20,000. However, Bramhall began to rebuild his collection and managed to lend three Whistler etchings and drypoints to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893: Black Lion Wharf (cat. no. 1634); Weary (cat. no. 1649); The Beggars (cat. no. 1663).
Bibliography:
'Valuable Etchings Burned', The New York Times, 5 May 1890, p. 1; http://columbus.iit.edu/od/od-us-engravings.html (accessed August 2009); http://www.westfieldnjhistory.com/files/rahwaycem.htm (accessed August 2009); http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~steadman/wga10.html (accessed August 2009).