From Mrs. Astor's Gallery to Shea's Grand Staircase: The True Story of Mignon
- Anthony Chase
- Sep 12
- 5 min read
By ANTHONY CHASE
Many have been fascinated by the enigmatic and somewhat incongruous painting of a young woman that adorns the grand staircase at Shea's Buffalo Theatre. A plaque on the frame attributes the work to French artist Jules Lefebvre and identifies the girl as "Mignon." But who is she and what is she doing at Shea's?
“Mignon" is a fictional character from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1796), though Lefebvre would have known her primarily from Ambroise Thomas's popular 1866 opera Mignon. The character is a young girl of apparently Italian origin with a tragic, mysterious past, found with a troupe of performers and brought to Germany. She was a popular subject of 19th century art.
Still, what is she doing so prominently displayed at Shea’s?
For years, Shea's Buffalo Theatre has told this story about the painting: it originally belonged to the Vanderbilt family, was purchased by Michael Shea (who built the theater in 1926), and was installed at the top of the grand staircase "at a later date" to match the luxurious style of his movie palace. I never questioned this account -- but I would discover that both the ownership history and the installation timeline are inaccurate.
Recently, The Gilded Age television show piqued my curiosity about another Gilded Age family, older than the Vanderbilts and equally embedded in New York City upper society – the Astors. Especially "Mrs. Astor," the real-life character played by Donna Murphy.
Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, known to her friends as “Lina,” was the matriarch of the Astor family and leader of "the Four Hundred." This was the group of New York's most elite socialites, so designated because 400 was the number of guests who could fit comfortably into the ballroom of Mrs. Astor's home at 350 Fifth Avenue. From this rarified nest, she ruled high society with imperious authority.
Mrs. Astor is best remembered not for the mansion at 350 Fifth Avenue, but for the grand double mansion that replaced it at 840-841 Fifth Avenue. This imposing structure boasted an impressive Gallery-Ballroom -- able to accommodate the 400 and more.
The move was prompted by family drama. Annoyed by her nephew William Waldorf Astor's construction of the 13-story Waldorf Hotel right next door -- an act of spite because he believed his wife should be 'the' Mrs. Astor -- Lina commissioned a new residence for herself and her son, John J. Astor IV further up Fifth Avenue.
The double-mansion was magnificent. While examining historic photographs of this residence, I was startled to see a familiar image hanging on the gallery wall. There was the "Mignon" I know so well – identical frame, identical plaque – the very same painting that now hangs in Shea's lobby. There was no doubt about it.
How could this be? I was always told that the painting had belonged to the Vanderbilts, not the Astors. I did a search for records of Vanderbilt art collection and found a Lefebvre "Mignon" in an inventory from 1884. The 1897 photograph places the painting in the Astor mansion, while the 1884 Vanderbilt inventory suggests either an earlier transfer from the Vanderbilts to the Astors, or more likely, the existence of multiple Lefebvre "Mignon" paintings.
Then came the eureka moment. Proof positive. I found the auction catalogue from the 1926 Astor estate sale conducted by the American Art Association, Inc., listing Lefebvre's "Mignon." The catalogue is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. 1926 is the same year that Shea's Buffalo was rising on Main Street in Buffalo.
The auction featured three paintings by Jules Joseph Lefebvre. Of these, "Odalisque" was purchased by George F. Harding, Jr. and remained in his private collection until his death in 1929, when it entered public display and is now held by the Art Institute of Chicago. "Le Rêve" was acquired by a private collector in Paris and has not been seen publicly since -- only a reproduction "after" the Lefebvre original survives as evidence of the lost work. The third painting, "Mignon," would take a different path entirely, destined for a theater lobby in Buffalo where it has remained accessible to the public for a century.
Photographs and auction records confirm that the Shea's painting was displayed in the Astor mansion from 1897 until 1926, a timeframe that perfectly matches the construction of Shea’s Buffalo Theatre. As for the installation timeline, The Buffalo Times newspaper reported that the painting was hung at the head of the Shea's Grand Stairway in September 1926, just months after the theater first opened its doors -- hardly the significant delay implied by "at a later date." Adding to the confusion, the rather careless text of this news item misspells the artist's name as "La Febre" and states that the painting was acquired “from the collection of the American Art Association,” naming the auction house as owner of the painting, rather than Mrs. Astor's grandson and heir, Vincent Astor.
I suspect that the notion that the painting was installed at Shea’s well after its 1926 opening was an assumption inspired by the oddness of such a formal portrait of an anonymous woman in an entertainment venue. Once its history is clarified, however, Michael Shea's motivation for acquiring the painting becomes clearer and less incongruous. Jules Lefebvre, renowned as one of the era's most accomplished portraitists, had created a work that gazed down upon New York's elite, “The 400,” at every social gathering Mrs. Astor had ever hosted at 840-841 Fifth Avenue. Mignon would now gaze down upon Buffalonians from the walls of Shea's luxurious movie palace – a prestigious trophy from the height of American opulence. A painting from Mrs. Astor’s collection is quite a prize!
Despite its remarkable provenance, Shea's "Mignon" remains absent from art historical documentation. The Shea's "Mignon" thus becomes uniquely important among Lefebvre's works for its traceable history, major American private ownership, and its continued survival in a public building outside conventional museum environments. Now, with photographic evidence and auction records, there's a strong case for updating the art historical record to reflect the true provenance and continued legacy of the painting in Buffalo, filling a significant gap in Lefebvre catalogues and fostering recognition of the painting's unique journey.
This significant artwork has been hiding in plain sight, remaining publicly accessible in a way that might not have been possible, had the painting been sequestered in a private collection. The Shea's Mignon is one of the last surviving eyewitnesses to the most exclusive social gatherings of America's Gilded Age, and now she watches over a beloved democratic entertainment venue in Buffalo, New York.
Portrait of Mrs. Astor by Charles-Auguste-Emile Durant, 1890, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Photo of Jules Joseph Lefevbre; and photo of Michael Shea
