Mount Auburn Cemetery

mid 19th century

Thomas Chambers

Associated Names
Thomas Chambers

Artist, American, 1808 - 1866 or after

This painting shows a park-like landscape with trees, flowers, bushes, and a pond, all surrounded by light brown paths. The pond is in the center of the park, with light green-blue water framed by bushes, ferns, and tall flowers. Across from the pond are three large, white structures that could be mausoleums. Behind them is a hill with trees and more white graves or mausoleums on top of it. On either side of the pond, past the paths that encircle it, are tall trees with leaves in shades of dark green and brown. On the right side is a tall white structure that could be a grave or a monument. At the bottom of the painting, the paths curve up over a small hill in front of the pond. In between the paths are sections of grass dotted with small pink and white flowers. On the right side of the painting, a couple walks down the hill towards the pond. The person on the left wears a long blue coat decorated with gold buttons and a large, plumed hat, while the person on the right wears a pink gown and blue bonnet. Above the scene, the sky is blue, with puffy white clouds.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Recorded as from Boston. Purchased in 1949 by Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift to NGA, 1958.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1968

  • American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts, Columbus, Georgia, 1968-1969, no. 15.

1971

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Roger Morton, U.S. Department of Interior, Washington, D.C., 1971-1975.

1981

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, 1981-1982, no. 31 (cat. by Ronald McKnight Melvin).

1985

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, traveling exhibition by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, 1985-1987, no. 18, color repro. First venue: Museum of American Folk Art, N.Y.

1988

  • La Nascita di Una Nazione: Pittori americani dalla National Gallery of Art di Washington 1730-1880, Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande, Bologna; Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna di Ca'Pesaro, Venice, 1988-1989, no. 18, repro.

1991

  • The American Garden, Mansfield Art Center, Ohio, 1991, no. 8.

1998

  • Art of the Departed: The Gravestones of Cape Cod, Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Massachusetts, 1998, no cat.

2010

  • American Naive Paintings from the Garbisch Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, Virginia, 2010, no cat.

Bibliography

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 38, repro.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 128, repro.

1992

  • Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 54-55, repro. 55.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 138, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20185183

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