Emile Schweitzer Sold at Auction Prices

A PORTRAIT OF CLARA BARTON'S STRASBOURG 'WORKROOM FOR WOMEN.' SCHWEITZER, EMILE. 1837-1903. Original pen, ink and gouache drawing of Clara Barton's distribution network at Strasbourg, 12 x 18 inches, framed.

A PORTRAIT OF CLARA BARTON'S STRASBOURG 'WORKROOM FOR WOMEN.' SCHWEITZER, EMILE. 1837-1903. Original pen, ink and gouache drawing of Clara Barton's distribution network at Strasbourg, 12 x 18 inches, framed. In 1871, Clara Barton was invited by the German authorities and the Strasbourg Comite de Secours to superintend a project to distribute supplies to the destitute people of the city. With her own money and that of other benefactors, Barton bought materials, engaged cutters, and paid the poor women of the city to make garments, which were then sold for nominal prices to the very poor. These 'Workrooms for Women' were instrumental in feeding, clothing and raising the morale of the citizenry exhausted by war, and became a model for philanthropic work going forward. The painting is reprinted in Percy Epler's Life of Clara Barton (NY: 1932) opposite p 160. For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website