Rio de Janeiro Bay
1864
Artist, American, 1819 - 1904

Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 45.5 x 91.1 cm (17 15/16 x 35 7/8 in.)
framed: 70.2 x 115.9 x 12.1 cm (27 5/8 x 45 5/8 x 4 3/4 in.) -
Accession
1965.2.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
John H. Lidgerwood [d. 1956], Morristown, New Jersey;[1] (his estate sale, O. Rundle Gilbert, Morristown, New Jersey, 1956); (Victor Spark and Graham Galleries, New York); purchased 27 January 1965 by NGA.
[1] An undated note in NGA curatorial files from William P. Campbell states: "The Graham Galleries said NGA 1941 [former accession number for 1965.2.1] came `from a private home in New Jersey.'" When Heade's small oil entitled Harbor in Brazil was consigned to Sotheby's, New York, for auction, its owner informed the auction house that it had come from a house called "Speedwell" in Morristown and that the National Gallery's painting had been in the same collection (information provided by Dara Mitchell, American Paintings department, Sotheby's, in a telephone conversation; memorandum of 10 June 1992, in NGA curatorial files). See also American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture, Sotheby's, New York, 27 May 1992, no. 6. "Speedwell" was founded by Alfred Vail (1807-1859), who coinvented the telegraph with Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872); John H. Lidgerwood was Vail's grandnephew.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1969
In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.
1971
The Beckoning Land, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1971, 24, no. 31, repro. 67.
1980
American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980, 116, fig. 121.
Bibliography
1969
Stebbins, Theodore E., Jr. Martin Johnson Heade. Exh. cat. University of Maryland Art Gallery, College Park, 1969: n.p., as Brazilian Seascape.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 66, repro.
1975
Stebbins, Theodore E., Jr. The Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade. New Haven and London, 1975: 87, 228-229, no. 85, repro.
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 559, no. 851, color repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 172, repro.
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 94-95, no. 28, color repro.
1981
Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 121, repro. 122.
1982
Mrozek, Donald J. "The American Idea of Recreation and the Changing Role of the National Park." Conspectus of History 1 (1982): 20, fig. 5.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 549, no. 832, color repro.
1988
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 108, no. 31, color repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 197, 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: 288-291, color repro.
Inscriptions
lower left: M. J. Heade / 1864
Wikidata ID
Q20188652