As a Roslyn High School Class of '69 alum and as a telecommunications attorney, I find your site fascinating. I always wondered why the mansion was destroyed, and the history behind the Mackay family, and the Postal Telegraph Company, and the estate. Thank you for collecting so much information.
Eliot Greenwald
Miami, Florida
www.vizcayamuseum.org/
A Question of provenance:
Can you help?
Rather than a comment (besides wanting to express my appreciation for your website), I have a question for you. Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Miami, Florida has in its collection a painting titled "Two Bearded Old Men" attributed to the Augsburg School, late 16th century. It was donated to Vizcaya by Claire Mendel of Miami Beach in the early 1980s. The record for prior ownership shows, "Collection of Clarence H. Mackay, Long Island, N.Y." No further information regarding provenance is available to us. Do you have any records pertaining to this painting? Anything could be of interest, ranging from photographs of interiors that show the painting, to sales records, or references to the painting, or the previous owner. I would be happy to send you a digital image of the painting.
Remko Jansonius, Florida
Interested in Vizcaya Museum and Gardens? Click here: www.vizcayamuseum.org/
Additional information: "Two Bearded Old Men" is part of a collection, donated to Vizcaya in the early 1980s, with questionable or missing provenance. Some of the works may be art stolen or sold under duress during WW II; one painting of this collection was already repatriated to Poland. The donor acquired these pieces during the 1950s, unaware of its questionable history.
Thus the "Two Bearded Old Men" may have made its way from the Mackay collection to Europe, and back to the U.S. In that case I would like to find out where it was in Europe. If it was sold in the U.S. and remained here, this documentation would put its questionable provenance to rest.
Remko Jansonius
Collections and Archives Manager
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
Miami, Florida