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historical notes
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Sarah Poulterer Harrison, originally of New York, was the wife of Joseph Harrison, Jr. [1810-1874], the Philadelphia engineer, financier and art collector.
They were married 15 December 1836 and had seven children. Harrison was a foreman for the firm Garrett & Eastwick, eventually becoming a partner with in that enterprise. In 1841 the firm built the locomotive Gowan and Marx, whose performance attracted the attention of Russian engineers researching North American railroad equipment. Harrison and his partners were subsequently contracted by the Russian government to build locomotives and freight cars. As a result, the Harrisons spent most of the years of 1843-1850 in Saint Petersburg.
They then lived mainly in London and Paris, returning to Philadelphia in 1852. The Harrison mansion on Rittenhouse Square (destroyed in the 1920s) included a wing as a gallery for Harrison's art collection, which included Gilbert Stuart's Vaughan portrait of George Washington [now NGA 1942.8.27], Benjamin West's depiction of William Penn's treaty with the Indians, and Charles Willson Peale's The Artist in his Museum [both now at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts]. Harrison also had in his collection George Catlin's American Indian Gallery, [now at the Smithsonian Institution] which he had acquired in England in 1852. Harrison was very ill in his late years, and it was Sarah who disposed of much of the collection after his death. In 1912 a final sale of the Harrison collection was held in in Philadelphia, following Sarah's death (National Gallery of Art, http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pbio?552780, 12/28/2007)
According to Treasures of American Art, she owned works by: Joseph Ames, A. Bierstadt, Thomas Birch, C.G. Blauvelt, H.J. Boddington, G.R. Bonfield, H. Borgognone, J.G. Brown, John Carlin, Pietro Carlini, J.W. Casilear, J. Cawse, V. Chuilly, Thomas Cole, Sidney Cooper, J.F. Cropsey, D. Cunliffe, W. Davis, A.F. De Braekeleer, Laurent De Buel, M.F.H. De Haas, Henri Delattre, F. De Vos, K. Dorner, Thomas Doughty, H. Dupray, J. Duvaux, T.E. Duverger, William Etty, A. Everson, J.P. Fauvelet, William H. Furness, S.R. Gifford, R. Gignoux, A. Gryef, J. Hamilton, W.M. Hart, Charles Herbsthoffer, G. Hertzel, F. Hiddemann, Ernest Hildebrandt, Angelica Kaufmann, William C. Knell, W. Koekkoek, C. krieghoff, C.J. Kuwassig, Jr., C.J. Juwassig, Sr., G.C. Lambinet, Louis Lang, Anna M. Lea, Sir Frederick Leighton, E. Leutze, Emile Levy, Edmund Lewis, J.W. Lindlar, Charles Lucy, E. D. Merchant, W. Sanford Mason, Edward H. May, H. Merius, A. Miller, C. Monginot, J.C. Montalant, Frantz Moormans, Edward Moran, Thomas Moran, W. Moritz, Gustav Muller, James Nasmyth, V. Nehlig, Jules Hoel, B. Nordenberg, Karel Ooms, T.P. Otter, Willam Page, C.W. Peale, Rembrandt Peale, J.P. Pool Milne Ramsey, W. Ranney, T.B. Read, H.E. Reyntjens, F. De B. Richards, W. F. Richards, John Robertson, H.D. Roszczewski, P.F. Rothermel, C. Schermer, Ad. Schreyer, Christian Schuessele, Willam Shayer, J. Russell Smith, Xanthus Smith, C. Springer, Gilbert Stewart, THomas Sully, A.F. Tait, J. Van Der Waaden, Emile Van Marcke, Eugene Verboekhoven, Otto Von Thoren, Vraken, Otto Weber, Paul Weber, E.H. Wehnert, Richard Westall, Sir David Wilkie, B. Wittkamp, A. Woodside. Sculpture included:
Sarah Ames, Edward S. Bartholomew, A. Carrier, K. Froschel, J.A. Houdon, Joseph Mozier.
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