Pastoral Landscape

1861

Asher Brown Durand

Artist, American, 1796 - 1886

We look sightly down and across a green meadow in front of us at a grove of tall trees to our left next to a shimmering body of water, before a deep view of distant mountains beneath an ice-blue sky in this horizontal landscape. A few slate-gray boulders and fallen tree trunks line the view along the bottom edge of the composition. To our left, tall, moss-green, leafy trees rise nearly the height of the canvas, shading a winding, dirt path that leads to building with white walls and a gray roof in the distance. A tower standing next to the structure suggests this could be a church. The land slopes gently to the water, perhaps a river, where five brown and white cows gather near the sand-colored shoreline at the lower center of the composition. Another pair of cows, one white and one chestnut brown, stand closer to us. The placid surface of the water reflects the pale blue of the sky and the soft green of the tree-covered hill across the river. The river winds under an arched bridge, into the distance to our left. Minuscule buildings and pointed spires dot the landscape that becomes hazy in the distance. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the canvas, and a few wispy, grayish clouds float across the light blue sky. The brushstrokes are blended and the palette dominated by earthy greens, browns, and watery blue, giving the landscape a soft appearance. The artist signed and dated the painting as if he had written his name on a rock near the lower left corner: “ABDurand 1861.”

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By 1861, when Asher B. Durand executed this large and impressive picture, he had fully perfected his approach to landscape painting, creating idealized, expressive views of America's wilderness based on close observations of the natural world that stand as prime examples of the Hudson River School aesthetic.

Because virtually nothing is known of Pastoral Landscape's history prior to 1980, the painting's original title remains the subject of speculation. But certain relevant facts can be established. First and foremost, the work is the largest, most ambitious, and most accomplished of Durand's paintings from 1861, representing a substantial commitment of time by the artist, who was not a fast worker. Second, the scenery resembles that of the Hudson River Valley, where he spent considerable time and from which he drew inspiration for many works. Third, the painting contains several works of architecture—an Italianate villa just beyond the woods at left, an arched stone bridge, a gabled house across the water, and an English Gothic revival church in the center distance—that may or may not indicate that Durand sought to depict a specific, identifiable place. And finally, in certain respects—mostly notably, the presence of a house nestled in the woods, a church, and an arched bridge— Pastoral Landscape bears a strong resemblance to Durand's important work of the previous year Sunday Morning (New Britain, Connecticut, New Britain Museum of American Art). Regardless of its precise identity, the painting is unmistakably one of Durand's grandest and most successful panoramic renderings of an idealized American landscape.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I, pages 144-148, which is available as a free PDF at https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-19th-century-part-1.pdf


Artwork overview


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly B. F. Gardner, Baltimore, by 1862.[1] Private collection, Switzerland, until 1980;[2] (sale, Sotheby's, New York, 25 April 1980, no. 17); (Alexander Gallery, New York); sold 1980 to Richard Manoogian, Grosse Pointe, Michigan; gift (partial and promised) 1991 to NGA; gift completed 2001.
[1] Gardner's possible ownership is discussed by Franklin Kelly in the systematic catalogue entry on the painting (Kelly, Franklin, et al., American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I, Washington, D.C., 1996: 144-148).
[2] According to Holly Goetz of Sotheby's, New York (memorandum of phone conversation, 24 June 1993, in NGA curatorial files), this individual is deceased and those administering the estate refuse to divulge any information whatsoever about how and when the painting was acquired.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1987

  • The Hudson River School: Congenial Observations, Alexander Gallery, New York, 1987, no. 5, as View of Kingston, New York.

1991

  • Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991, supplement to catalogue, color repro.

2007

  • Loan to display with permanent collection, Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland, 2007, no cat.

Bibliography

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: 144-148, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: ABDurand / 1861

Wikidata ID

Q20188557


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