Augustus Vincent Tack (1870-1949)

According to Dr. Susan Frank of the Phillips Collection, the jagged edges of the abstract forms and the sense of an ethereal light in the present work are similar to that of Tack's Aspiration (1931), a large rectangular canvas commissioned by Duncan Phillips in 1928 for his museum. The present work is one of a number of sumptuous oval format paintings that Tack painted in the early 1930s, several of which, such as Golden Morning (1930) and Spring Night (1931), are also at the Phillips.

The previous owner of the present work, John D. Archbold of Upperville, Virginia, was an heir to the Standard Oil fortune. His grandfather, also named John D. Archbold (1848-1916) was John D. Rockefeller's original partner in the business.