The Jewel Box, Old Lyme

When the Academy accepted Hassam's diploma work, it was recorded in Council minutes under the title The Pines, which is also the title it bears in the inventory of the Academy's collection published in 1911. On February 7, 1921, the Council granted Hassam's request to remove his painting for "restoration." There is no documentation of the work having been returned-not unusual in Academy record-keeping at the time.
Subsequent inventories title the Hassam as "The Jewel Box, Old Lyme," prompting questions as to whether the artist returned a different painting. It would have been highly unlikely for an exchange of diploma works to occur without formal permission by the Council and a subsequent record in minutes. Indeed, no such record exists, but neither is there any documentation of the source, time, or reason for the change in title. According to Kathleen Burnside, who with Stuart Feld is preparing the catalogue raisonné of Hassam's works, it was not out of character for the artist to change the title of a painting in favor of a more poetic reference.