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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.

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.

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