“From the Archives” A Missing Masterpiece

For many decades, beginning in 1857, a large oil painting of Christ’s crucifixion hung over the altar at Saint Mary Church instead of the crucifix with corpus that is there to- day. Traditionally, this painting was attributed to American artist Rembrandt Peale. It was very similar to a number of Peale’s paintings and may have been a copy of one of his works. More recently, however, researchers at the Jesuit archives at Georgetown University have debunked the Peale tradition. Our painting was actually the work of a 19th century artist in Rome, M. Dies.

A duplicate of this painting still hangs in another old Jesuit church, Saint John the Evangelist in Frederick, MD. According to their records, the painting was done by Pietro Gugliardi in 1845. Fr. Fran- cis Dzierozynski, the Jesuit Provincial, paid $240 for it and donated it to the Maryland parish. Since our Saint Mary in Alexandria was also a Jesuit parish, and Fr. Dzierozynski lived at Georgetown and was very familiar with our parish, the supposition is that he either ordered Saint Mary’s painting from the same Italian artist before a 1857 major renova- tion of our church or perhaps he had another painter, M. Dies, copy it. Or Dies may have been a student of Gugliardi.

Whichever theory is correct, the records are gone and nowhere is Rembrandt Peale mentioned in 19th century Jesuit records. And now the painting that adorned Saint Mary for so many years is gone too. It was damaged in a fire that struck the church in 1929. It was restored and hung in the sanctuary until Msgr. Edward L. Stephens renovated the church in the late 1940s and then the current crucifix was installed. Like many things Catholic, the fate of our magnificent painting remains a mystery. If you remember where the painting went, please contact the parish office!

— Kitty Guy, Parish Historian

Throughout 2020, the Basilica of Saint Mary will present “From the Archives.” It is a weekly feature online and in our bulletin spotlighting the history of the parish. All of our “From the Archives” features are located here.