Plan to Sell Seward Museum Painting Stirs Outcry

Descendants of 19th-century statesman William H. Seward and patrons of the museum that occupies his former home in upstate New York are decrying plans to sell a valuable painting that has hung in the house for more than a century, The New York Times writes.

The 1839 work by Hudson River School founder Thomas Cole, appraised five years ago at $18-million, is owned by the Fred L. Emerson Foundation, which formerly oversaw the Seward House Historic Museum in Auburn, N.Y. The foundation says the painting is too valuable to remain at the museum, which lacks the resources to adequately protect it, and that the institution will receive some proceeds from the sale.

The museum’s board has approved the foundation’s plan, but Ray Messenger, a great-great-grandson of Mr. Seward, filed suit to block the sale, which has also been criticized by museum professionals. The Civil War-era secretary of state’s heirs want ownership of the Cole canvas, “Portage Falls on the Genesee,” transferred to the museum, which was established in 1951 at the family’s longtime home.