Provenance

Henry C. Sturges

American, 1846 - 1922

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We look across a wide, low clearing at a mountain rising beyond rocky hills, which are mostly covered in pines and blazing red and orange autumn trees, in this horizontal landscape painting. The green grass of the clearing is littered with dead trees and stumps. Beyond a narrow opening between the hills, almost at the center of the composition, a massive mountain towers against the powder-blue sky, nearly reaching the top edge of the painting. The mountain’s jagged face is mottled with warm tones of cinnamon, rust, and caramel brown. The scene is bathed in warm light coming from our right but pewter-gray storm clouds move in from the upper left to encircle the mountain peak. Closest to us, a line of broken tree trunks spans the width of the painting, mixed with scarlet-red, marigold-orange, and green vegetation and reeds. A silvery pond lies just beyond them to our left. Tiny in scale within the landscape, a horse and rider gallop along a wide dirt road emerging from the lower right toward a white house nestled at the foot of the hill to our left. The rider wears a knee-length, denim-blue tunic and red leggings. Upon closer inspection, two children and a white dog become visible, walking toward the rider. A straw-yellow structure sits against the hill to our right. A horse-drawn carriage moves away from the house in the far distance, where the road curves toward the notch. The artist signed and dated the painting as if he wrote directly onto a broken trunk in the lower left corner of the painting: “T. Cole 1839.”
Thomas Cole, A View of the Mountain Pass Called the Notch of the White Mountains (Crawford Notch), 1839, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1967.8.1

A View of the Mountain Pass Called the Notch of the White Mountains (Crawford Notch)

Thomas Cole · 1839 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1967.8.1

The image shows a portrait of a man from the chest upwards. He is turned slightly to his right and depicted gazing towards the viewer. The man has a pale complexion, soft facial features, a slightly rounded face, and light voluminous hair styled away from his face. He is dressed formally in a dark jacket with a high collar and a white cravat at his neck. There are no visible jewelry or objects. The background is a plain, textured, brownish canvas.
Gilbert Stuart, Dr. William Hartigan (?), c. 1793, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1942.8.16

Dr. William Hartigan (?)

Gilbert Stuart · c. 1793 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.8.16

Bibliography

1922

  • The New York Times. 18 February 1922: 13 [obituary]