1 / 1

download is not available

John William Casilear

View on Lake George, 1857

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 50.5 x 76 cm (19 7/8 x 29 15/16 in.)

framed: 77.5 x 102.2 x 12.4 cm (30 1/2 x 40 1/4 x 4 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Frederick Sturges, Jr.

Accession Number

1978.6.1

Artists / Makers

John William Casilear (artist) American, 1811 - 1893

Image Use

This image is unavailable for download.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .
Contact us about image usage .

Inscription

lower center, in ligature: JWC. / 57.

Provenance

Possibly Jonathan Sturges [1802-1874], New York, and Fairfield, Connecticut;[1] his son, Frederick Sturges [d. 1917], New York, and Fairfield, Connecticut; his son, Frederick Sturges, Jr. [1876-1977], New York, and Fairfield, Connecticut;[2] gift 1978 to NGA.

[1] According to letters of 27 August and 7 December 1981 from Frederick Sturges III (in NGA curatorial files), family tradition held that paintings in the Sturges collection were all originally purchased by Jonathan Sturges. In this instance, however, as with several other paintings (see Durand's Forest in the Morning Light and Pastoral Scene [1978.6.2 and 1978.6.3] and Kensett's Beacon Rock, Newport Harbor and Beach at Beverly [1953.1.1 and 1978.6.]) no certain evidence establishes ownership by Jonathan Sturges. No works by Casilear are mentioned in the discussion of the Jonathan Sturges collection in Thomas S. Cummings, Historic Annals of the National Academy of Design (1825-1863), Philadelphia, 1865: 141 (reprint New York, 1965), or in Henry T. Tuckerman, Book of the Artists, New York, 1867: 627 (reprint New York, 1967). In 1860 Frederick Sturges lent a work by Casilear, entitled A Reminiscence of Switzerland, to the Artists' Fund Society in New York (James L. Yarnall and William H. Gerdts, The National Museum of American Art's Index to American Art Exhibition Catalogues from the beginning through the 1876 Centennial Year, 6 vols., Boston, 1986: 1: 604, no. 14703). Although it is conceivable A Reminiscence was this painting (which would mean the present title is inaccurate), it seems unlikely. Most of Casilear's early Swiss works (such as Swiss Scene, 1859, National Academy of Design; Barbara Novak and Annette Blaugrund, eds., Next to Nature: Landscape Paintings from the National Academy of Design, New York, 1980: 54) show identifiably Alpine terrain, with distinctive snow-capped mountains.

[2] Frederick Sturges, Jr., died on 14 October 1977, according to Frederick Sturges III (letter of 27 January 1982 in NGA curatorial files). View on Lake George came to the National Gallery as a bequest with four other paintings.

Associated Names

Sturges, Frederick
Sturges, Jonathan
Sturges, Jr., Frederick

Exhibition History

1945: The Hudson River School and the Early American Landscape Tradition, The Art Institute of Chicago; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1945, 116, no. 21, as Heart of the Catskills.

1946: One Hundred Years, 1846-1946, M. Knoedler and Co., New York, 1946, no. 18, as Heart of the Catskill Mountains.

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 medium-weight, plain-weave fabric that has been lined. The original tacking margins have been removed, but cusping is visible along all four edges. The ground is thin and white. \rUnderdrawing is visible in the trees at the left, and infrared reflectography reveals further underdrawing along the contour of the mountains. Using a fairly elaborate layering system, the paint was applied thinly in the sky and lake and thicker in the mountains and foreground. A pentimento in the lake has been heavily inpainted. There are scattered small losses throughout, and the surface of the lake appears abraded and worn. The widespread traction crackle and wrinkling of the paint film are due to the artist's technique. In 1978 the painting was relined, discolored varnish was thinned, and the painting was restored. The varnish has become yellowed and milky.

Bibliography

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 32, repro.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 92, repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 116, repro. 116-117.

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 106, repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 38, 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: 51-54, repro.