1920 John Fery Oil Painting
APPRAISER:
Today you've brought us a really interesting painting by John Fery. Uh, how did you acquire it?
GUEST:
This painting was my great-grandfather's, Charles Rendell Mabey, and he was the governor of Utah.
APPRAISER:
Oh, wow.
GUEST:
So he acquired this when he was in his term as governor.
APPRAISER:
The artist John Fery was born of Hungarian parents in Austria, and started his early life there, studying in Vienna and Munich. And he comes to the United States in 1883. He is best known for painting views of the West. He absolutely, uh, embraced the whole landscape, and so he would go to Yellowstone, and Glacier National Park, and, uh, ultimately, Utah. He was also known for being, uh, the artist for the Great Northern Railway. And he painted hundreds of paintings for them, and, um, they were used as advertisement to get people to ride the rails to go west and to visit the West. Now, this painting, uh, has an inscription on the back that dates it July 1920. So he would still have been living in Utah at that time. And it also has a title. It's called "Three Patriarchs, Zion Canyon, Utah." And the three patriarchs are the three cliffs that you see there. Have you ever had the painting valued?
GUEST:
I have not. Nor has anyone in my family, to my knowledge.
APPRAISER:
If this were being sold in a gallery, the painting would sell in the range of $25,000.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
His, his work is highly de-- coveted and desired. Um, he, uh, is best known for his views of Montana.
GUEST:
(exhales)
APPRAISER:
But it really is a very special piece.
GUEST:
That's cool.
GUEST and
APPRAISER:
(both laughing)
Appraisal Details
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