View on Lake George
1857
Artist, American, 1811 - 1893
Artwork overview
-
Medium
oil on canvas
-
Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 50.5 x 76 cm (19 7/8 x 29 15/16 in.)
framed: 77.5 x 102.2 x 12.4 cm (30 1/2 x 40 1/4 x 4 7/8 in.) -
Accession
1978.6.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Possibly Jonathan Sturges [1802-1874], New York, and Fairfield, Connecticut;[1] his son, Frederick Sturges [d. 1917], New York, and Fairfield, Connecticut; his son, Frederick Sturges, Jr. [1876-1977], New York, and Fairfield, Connecticut;[2] gift 1978 to NGA.
[1] According to letters of 27 August and 7 December 1981 from Frederick Sturges III (in NGA curatorial files), family tradition held that paintings in the Sturges collection were all originally purchased by Jonathan Sturges. In this instance, however, as with several other paintings (see Durand's Forest in the Morning Light and Pastoral Scene [1978.6.2 and 1978.6.3] and Kensett's Beacon Rock, Newport Harbor and Beach at Beverly [1953.1.1 and 1978.6.]) no certain evidence establishes ownership by Jonathan Sturges. No works by Casilear are mentioned in the discussion of the Jonathan Sturges collection in Thomas S. Cummings, Historic Annals of the National Academy of Design (1825-1863), Philadelphia, 1865: 141 (reprint New York, 1965), or in Henry T. Tuckerman, Book of the Artists, New York, 1867: 627 (reprint New York, 1967). In 1860 Frederick Sturges lent a work by Casilear, entitled A Reminiscence of Switzerland, to the Artists' Fund Society in New York (James L. Yarnall and William H. Gerdts, The National Museum of American Art's Index to American Art Exhibition Catalogues from the beginning through the 1876 Centennial Year, 6 vols., Boston, 1986: 1: 604, no. 14703). Although it is conceivable A Reminiscence was this painting (which would mean the present title is inaccurate), it seems unlikely. Most of Casilear's early Swiss works (such as Swiss Scene, 1859, National Academy of Design; Barbara Novak and Annette Blaugrund, eds., Next to Nature: Landscape Paintings from the National Academy of Design, New York, 1980: 54) show identifiably Alpine terrain, with distinctive snow-capped mountains.
[2] Frederick Sturges, Jr., died on 14 October 1977, according to Frederick Sturges III (letter of 27 January 1982 in NGA curatorial files). View on Lake George came to the National Gallery as a bequest with four other paintings.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1945
The Hudson River School and the Early American Landscape Tradition, The Art Institute of Chicago; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1945, 116, no. 21, as Heart of the Catskills.
1946
One Hundred Years, 1846-1946, M. Knoedler and Co., New York, 1946, no. 18, as Heart of the Catskill Mountains.
1998
Treasures of Light: Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, March-April 1998, no cat.
American Light: Selections from the National Gallery of Art, Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, May-August 1998, no cat.
2006
Extended loan for use by Vice President and Mrs. Richard Cheney, Vice President's Residence, Washington, D.C., 2006-2009.
2018
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Lewis Eisenberg, U.S. Embassy residence, Rome, 2018-2020.
Bibliography
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 32, repro.
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 92, repro.
1981
Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 116, repro. 116-117.
1988
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 106, repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 38, repro.
1996
Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 51-54, repro.
Inscriptions
lower center, in ligature: JWC. / 57.
Wikidata ID
Q20188392