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John Frederick Kensett

Landing at Sabbath Day Point, c. 1853

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 25.4 x 39.9 cm (10 x 15 11/16 in.)

framed: 38.1 x 52.1 x 6.4 cm (15 x 20 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Sigourney Thayer

Accession Number

1968.7.1

Artists / Makers

John Frederick Kensett (artist) American, 1816 - 1872

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower right, JF in ligature: JF.K.

Provenance

Andrew Kirkpatrick Cogswell [d. 1887], New Brunswick, New Jersey;[1] his second wife, Virginia Claiborne Latrobe Cogswell, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Baltimore;[2] her son, John H.B. Latrobe Cogswell [d. 1967]; his half-niece, Mary V.R. Thayer [Mrs. Sigourney Thayer], Washington, D.C.; gift 1968 to NGA.

[1] The provenance was provided by the donor of the painting in an undated memorandum (in NGA curatorial files).

[2] A death date for Virginia Cogswell has not been established. An obituary for her husband in the New York Daily Tribune, 14 February 1887, states that she was then "at the point of death"; however, according to Mary Thayer (undated memorandum in NGA curatorial files), Virginia Cogswell and her son John "returned to Baltimore to live" following the death of Judge Cogswell.

Associated Names

Cogswell, Andrew Kirkpatrick
Cogswell, John H.B. Latrobe
Cogswell, Virginia Claiborne Latrobe
Thayer, Sigourney, Mrs.

Exhibition History

1970: Extended loan for use by The White House, Washington, D.C., 1970-1993.

1994: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Donald Blinken, U.S. Embassy residence, Budapest, Hungary, 1994-1997.

1998: American Light: Selections from the National Gallery of Art, Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, May-August 1998, no cat.

1998: Treasures of Light: Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, March-April 1998, no cat.

2006: Extended loan for use by Vice President and Mrs. Richard Cheney, Vice President's Residence, Washington, D.C., 2006-2009.

Technical Summary

The support is a plain-weave, tightly woven fabric that has been lined. A smooth white ground of medium thickness was applied to the fabric and over this the paint was built up first in thin, transparent layers and then in increasingly thicker layers moving from background to foreground. It appears that the sky was painted first, followed by the mountain and water, with the foreground painted last. The condition of the paint layer is generally good, with a few scattered losses. In 1968 the painting was relined. At that time, discolored varnish was removed prior to inpainting. The varnish has yellowed.

Bibliography

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 76, repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 187, repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 118, repro 120.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 217, 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: 388-391, color repro.