to Salon No. 5
J. William Fosdick (1858–1937)
1888 Panel of Lady Godiva

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Lady Godiva By J. William Fosdick, Paris, 1888 Calligraphic inscription, recto, top of the panel: LADY GODIVA Calligraphic inscription, recto, bottom of the panel: Then she rode forth clo- thed on with chastity. Pyrography on wood panel, about 3 ft wide by 4 ft tall Digital image courtesy of Sathya Designs

Lady Godiva, Detail of the title By J. William Fosdick, Paris, 1888 Calligraphic inscription, recto, top of the panel: LADY GODIVA Digital image courtesy of Sathya Designs

Lady Godiva, Detail of the monogram signature By J. William Fosdick, Paris, 1888 Following the calligraphic inscription, recto, at the bottom of the panel is a signature logo of the letter F and a little Salamander Below that is PARIS, 1888 [See commentary on Fosdick's Salamander logo in his 1890 Rose Salon and his 1909 article in Palette and Bench, fourth paragraph.] Pyrography on wood panel, about 3 ft wide by 4 ft tall Digital image courtesy of Sathya Designs

Lady Godiva, detail of the label, verso By J. William Fosdick, Paris, 1888 Handwritten label, verso: ______ Decorative Panel by J. William Fosdick Price $200. Subject Lady Godiva. This panel is etched with red- hot points. Van Dyck Studios 9391 8th Street New York. Digital image courtesy of Sathya Designs

Lady Godiva, detail of the figure in the central panel By J. William Fosdick, Paris, 1888 Pyrography on wood panel, about 3 ft wide by 4 ft tall Digital image courtesy of Sathya Designs

Lady Godiva, detail of the figure By J. William Fosdick, Paris, 1888 Pyrography on wood panel, about 3 ft wide by 4 ft tall Digital image courtesy of Sathya Designs

Courtesy of the Menons of Sathya Designs comes this beautiful panel by J. William Fosdick entitled "Lady Godiva." Nina remembers seeing J. William Fosdick's "Lady Godiva" panel when she was a little girl in upstate New York. Her husband Ram, originally from India, recalls that it has graced their home ever since they inherited it back in the 1940's when they were still living in upstate New York and afterwards in their present home in the Seattle, Washington area in the northwest of the country. A label on the back of the panel indicates that Nina's family acquired this panel through the Van Dyck Studios in New York City where Fosdick showed his work after he returned in 1888 from his studies in Paris.

Sathya Designs found a reference to their panel listed as no. 2695 in the catalogue of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in the Architecture and Decoration exhibit there, which indicated on page 133 that J. William Fosdick's "Lady Godiva," described as, "decorative burnt-wood drawing (Pyrography)," was displayed on the "...East wall of North court, near entrance to staircase at Northeast of the Rotunda."

Because Sathya Designs will be relocating soon to India, the owners are thinking they may sell the panel when they move.

Upon completing his studies at the Académie Julian, J. William Fosdick had his final exhibition (including this panel of Lady Godiva) in Paris before setting sail for home. Thanks to his 1884 commission for the home of E. D. Adams, he was already on his way to a very successful career as a professional artist in pyrography.

Here is the story of Fosdick's Paris exhibition from a February 14, 1892 article in the New York Times entitled "The Fire Etcher's Work" :

"Although Mr. Fosdick was convinced after he had finished Mr. Adams's work that fire etching was entitled to the highest rank as an art, he could not bring himself to believe that it was his duty to devote his time and strength to it exclusively. In 1888 he gave his first exhibition of fire etchings in Paris. Among those present were his teachers, Boulanger and Moillon, who were delighted with the work. They thought that it was something entirely new. Successful as Mr. Fosdick was as a painter, they advised him to drop the brush and give himself up to this art of etching with fire. His father, too, who had never abandoned his faith in its possibilities, joined them in urging him to follow the new path that opened before him."

Fosdick's Lady Godiva was cited in two year books of the Architectural League of New York of which he was a member.

NEWSFLASH! 05 October 2008: J. William Fosdick's Lady Godiva was also exhibited in 1889. An old photograph of this panel and the 1889 Catalogue of the St. Louis Exhibition of the Decorative Burnt Wood Panels of J. William Fosdick can be viewed at this link in the E-Museum.

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If you have any questions or any information regarding this decorative panel from 1888, or other works by J. William Fosdick, please e-mail Sathya Designs and the E-Museum Curator.

You are leaving the J. William Fosdick Salon No. 5
Featuring his 1888 Panel of Lady Godiva.

You can return to the:

Antique Art Hall
where there is a large section
with many exhibits dedicated to J. William Fosdick

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