Focus on this artwork and analyze the Provenance.
Shortly after its completion, in April 1864, the painting was exhibited at the "Metropolitan Fair, in aid of the United States Sanitary Commission." It sold for $1600, which was the highest price paid for any painting in the sale at that Sanitary Fair.  James Lenox bought it for his personal art collection. When construction for his Lenox Library (New York) ended, Lenox had the painting displayed in the art galleries. Years after Lenox's death, the Lenox Foundation decided to merge the Lenox Library's collection with the Tilden Trust and Astor Library to create the New York Public Library.In 1895, the painting belonged to the New York Public Library. However, in April 1943, the New York Public Library auctioned off the painting through Coleman Auction Galleries, and it was bought by Newhouse Galleries.  Soon after, A. F. Mondschein (also known as Frederick Mont or Adolf Fritz Mondschein or Frederick Mondschein) of New York acquired the painting. Mondschein was an art dealer and collector.  He primarily dealt with Old Masters paintings, which makes his involvement with Bierstadt's Valley of the Yosemite painting unusual.Mondschein then sold it later that year to Maxim Karolik.  Karolik's wife, another prominent collector of American art, gifted the painting to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston on June 12, 1947.
Maxim Karolik James Lenox New York Public Library Lenox Library (New York) Astor Library Sanitary Fair Boston United States Sanitary Commission Metropolitan Fair Museum of Fine Arts, Boston