Sunrise on the Potomac, c. 1852

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 60.8 × 92.71 cm (23 15/16 × 36 1/2 in.)

framed: 81.28 × 112.4 × 8.89 cm (32 × 44 1/4 × 3 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase with funds from the Ella Poe Burling Bequest to the Women's Committee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art)

Accession Number

2016.22.24

Artists / Makers

William MacLeod (artist) American, 1811 - 1892

Image Use

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Inscription

lower right, partly illegible date: W MacLeod / 18[52?]

Provenance

Probably by inheritance to the artist's grandniece, Genevieve Plummer [1881-1969]; gift 1954 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; (sale, C.G. Sloans Auctioneers, Bethesda, Maryland, 1954).[1] private collection(s); consigned c. 1985 to (C.G. Sloans Auctioneers, Bethesda);[2] sold c. 1985 to Eric and Candace Von Salzen, Washington, until 1990; Eric Von Salzen, Washington; sold November 2003 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2016 by the National Gallery of Art.

[1] The fact that the artist's grandniece owned the painting suggests that it likely come to her through the family. Both this painting and NGA 2016.22. , the artist's Maryland Heights: Siege of Harper's Ferry, were accepted as gifts in 1954 by the Corcoran with the understanding that Sunrise on the Potomac could be sold at auction and the proceeds used to offset the cost of restoring Maryland Heights. Therefore the Corcoran never accessioned this painting, and it was sold later the same year as from an anonymous consignor.

[2] At the time of the mid-1980s purchase by the Von Salzens, Donald Webster of C.G. Sloans Auctioneers told Candace Von Salzen, a MacLeod scholar, that the painting had been in the "Hopkins Estate" prior to its consignment, but provided no further details about this owner. See e-mail of 28 October 2003, Candace McIlhenny (formerly Candace Von Salzen) to Emily Shapiro, Corcoran Curatorial Fellow, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

C. G. Sloan & Co.
C. G. Sloan & Co.
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Plummer, Genevieve
Private Collection (NGA Former Owner)
Von Salzen, Eric .

Exhibition History

2005: William MacLeod: Painter and Curator, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 10 September - 7 November 2005, no. 3, unpublished checklist.

2013: American Journeys: Visions of Place, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 September 2013 - 28 September 2014, unpublished checklist.

Bibliography

1981: Von Salzen, Candace Nielsen. "William Douglas MacLeod: His Life, Curatorship, and Art." M.A. Thesis, George Washington University, Washington, 1981: 218.

2011: Cash, Sarah, ed. Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Washington, 2011: 307, repro.