[Joanna Karlgaard] I'm Dr. Joanna Karlgaard, I'm an Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs here at the BMA, and I'm a co-curator for the exhibition Deconstructing Nature: Environmental Transformation in the Lucas Collection. You might be surprised to see this invoice included in our introductory section. It is from a print dealer in Paris, and it is for the sale of a group of 13 prints by James McNeil Whistler. The seventh item on the invoice is an etching titled ‘Millbank,’ and you'll see this image in the exhibition in the gallery next door. George Lucas was born and raised in Baltimore. He was the son of a very successful merchant and publisher, and he was trained in civil engineering. But instead of following that career path, he moved to Paris in 1857, where he became thoroughly immersed in the artistic life of Paris. And he built this incredible network of friendships between artists, dealers, publishers, gallery owners, and in addition to working as an agent for American collectors, he also amassed his own personal collection that numbers nearly 20,000 works of art, and the vast majority are works on paper. This is a rare opportunity to see these works from the Lucas Collection. We're particularly excited because roughly 70% of the works in the exhibition have never been on view before at the BMA. So it was exciting to be able to look at works from the Lucas Collection in this new way for the exhibition.

This invoice from L. Dumont is addressed to George A. Lucas for the purchase of 13 prints by American artist James McNeill Whistler. The document is dated and itemized with the titles and prices of each print. There is a signature and a stamp at the bottom center of the invoice to formalize the purchase.