De Vries, Ibarra & Co. (c. 1864-1870) were "importers of paintings, engravings, bronzes, and works of art in general," "publishers of busts and statuary," and "importers and publishers of books in foreign languages."[1] Based in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 1860s the firm kept a shop in the Albion Hotel building on Beacon Street (corner Tremont Street),[2][3] and later on Tremont Street (between West Street and Temple Place). Proprietors included Guy Horvath De Vries[4][5] and Mrs. De Vries.[6] Staff included Carl Schoenhof, who bought the firm in 1870.
In the 1860s the firm published foreign-language materials including instruction manuals and reprints of literary works by Hans Christian Andersen, Francesco Dall'Ongaro, Gustav zu Putlitz, Carl Theodor Körner and others; translations of literary works (such as Dante's Inferno); and some English-language works. In 1864, for instance, "Messrs. De Vries and Ibarra, in the Albion building, are issuing a series of charming little German books, in a most tasteful style of print, chiefly for the use of young ladies who have German lessons, but attractive to all friends of German literature. Among them is "Prinzessin Ilse," an exquisite Madchen of the Hara mountains; "Was sich der Wald erzahlt," by Putlitz; and now a couple of art essays, on the "Venus of Milo," and on "Rafael and Michael Angelo," by Hermann Grimm, the author of the "Life of Michael Angelo," and son of one of the famous brothers Grimm. ... These little books are cheap, as well as models of artistic print."[7] Around 1865 the firm acquired the business of recently retired bookseller S.R. Urbino.[8]
Among the artworks exhibited in the De Vries Art Gallery were T.S. Noble's painting "John Brown's Blessing" (1867),[9] Albert Bierstadt's "Mt. Vesuvius in Eruption" (1868),[10] and T. Buchanan Read's "Sheridan's Ride."[11] The gallery was favorably mentioned in the Boston Ladies' Repository of April 1867: "At De Vries' art gallery are some fine paintings by artists of eminence, both native and foreign. The largest, and the one now on exhibition, is by Gustave Paul Dore ... entitled 'Midsummer,' and represents many flowers familiar to us. A scythe is lying amid the tall grass and weeds, and near it the flowers and grass lately cut and apparently withering. We notice several other pictures of peculiar interest. Among them a picture by Antonio Cortez, a pupil of Rosa Bonheur, one winter scene of singular fidelity to nature; also one called 'The Young Cooks.' The marbles are also fine ... 'The Dream of Youth' by Miss Ann Whitney is excellent."[12]
After the death of G.H. De Vries in 1870, the firm continued for some time, and then was acquired by Carl Schoenhof, one of the firm's employees. Schoenhof had been "a clerk with De Vries Ibarra & Co., and in 1870 with a Miss [Fanny] Moeller took over the business under the firm name of Schoenhof & Moeller."[13]
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