Linnaeus

This carved and painted pine-wood bust of Linnaeus (Carl von Linn) stands in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

This object came to the NGA from the Corcoran Gallery of Art. They bought it in 1951 from journalist Kendrick Scofield. “Corcoran records state that Scofield ‘purchased the bust from a New Jersey estate, where he found the bust on a gatepost.’” A letter from Kendrick says that “The bust was found in the Southern part of New Jersey and the man who had it assumed it was a figurehead.”