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Thomas Doughty

Fanciful Landscape, 1834

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 76.3 x 101.5 cm (30 1/16 x 39 15/16 in.)

framed: 105.7 x 130.5 x 11.8 cm (41 5/8 x 51 3/8 x 4 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the Avalon Foundation

Accession Number

1963.9.2

Artists / Makers

Thomas Doughty (artist) American, 1791 - 1856

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower right: T DOUGHTY / BOSTON / 1834

Provenance

Possibly William Warner Hoppin [1807-1890], Providence, until 1855 or later.[1] Private collection, near Sheffield, Massachusetts; acquired summer 1963 by (Lois W. Spring, Sheffield, Massachusetts); sold 1963 to (Vose Galleries, Boston);[2] purchased 9 October 1963 by NGA.

[1] Graphite inscriptions on the stretcher and on the frame appear to read "Hoppin"; however, the stretcher is not believed to be original, and it is not known whether the inscription was transferred from an earlier stretcher. Robert C. Vose (letter of 26 October 1963 in NGA curatorial files) argued that "the name Hoppin on the back does represent an earlier owner. There was a very prominent family of that name in Providence, Rhode Island." At the Second Exhibition of the Rhode Island Art Association in 1855 a work by Doughty called Landscape was lent by W[illiam] W[arner] Hoppin. Hoppin (1807-1890) was then the governor of Rhode Island (Dictionary of American Biography, 20 vols., New York, 1928-1936, reprinted in 10 vols. with 8 supplements, New York, 1944-1988: 9:227 228) and cousin of Thomas Frederick and Augustus Hoppin (Appleton's Cyclopedia of Biography, James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, eds., 6 vols., New York, 1888: 3:261 262). Another of his cousins, lawyer William Jones Hoppin, was closely involved with several cultural and artistic organizations in New York, including the American Art-Union and the Century Association, and helped organize the 1848 Thomas Cole Memorial Exhibition at the American Art-Union. (Laurette E. McCarthy, intern in the department of American and British Paintings, NGA, did the research on the Hoppin family.)

[2] According to Robert C. Vose (letter of 26 October 1963 in NGA curatorial files) the painting was purchased "from a small dealer [Lois W. Spring]." Lois W. Spring (letter of 10 December 1963 in NGA curatorial files) reported, "two decorators . . . stopped here one day last summer and had the painting in the back of their station wagon. They said they had just come from delivering some draperies to a customer and she had given them this painting to sell." It has not been possible to establish the name of the "customer" who owned the painting prior to Spring.

Associated Names

Hoppin, William Warner
Private Collection (NGA Former Owner)
Spring, Lois W.
Vose Galleries

Exhibition History

1834: Possibly Artist's Exhibition, Harding's Gallery, Boston, 1834, no. 24 (View of the Rhine), no. 26 (A Swiss Scene), no. 39 (Swiss Scene), or no. 41 (Source of the Rhine).

1855: Possibly Second Exhibition, Rhode Island Art Association, Providence, 1855, 10, no. 87, as Landscape.

1968: Arts of the Young Republic; The Age of William Dunlap, William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1968, 49, no. 104.

1969: In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.

1973: Thomas Doughty 1793-1856: An American Pioneer in Landscape Painting, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Albany Institute of History and Art, New York, 1973-1974, no. 28.

1976: The Gothic Revival Style in America, 1830-1870, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1976, 81, no. 169.

Technical Summary

The support is a plain-weave fabric that has been lined, but the original tacking margins are intact. The ground, applied prior to stretching, is a white or pale gray layer of moderate thickness, allowing some of the weave texture to show through. Textured and relatively full-bodied paint describes the sky and the cliffs at left; thinner paint and glazes are found in the cliff at right and the darker areas. The leaves are highlighted with dabs of bright yellow. There are no significant losses, but there is minor inpainting scattered throughout the lower section of the painting. The varnish has not discolored.

Bibliography

1969: Goodyear, Frank, Jr. "Life and Art of Thomas Doughty." M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1969: vi, 38, 77, repro. 39.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 48, repro.

1971: Walker, John Alan. "Thomas Doughty: Chronology and Checklist." Fine Art Source Material Newsletter 1 (January 1971): 5, no. 41.

1973: Goodyear, Frank, Jr. Thomas Doughty 1793-1856: An American Pioneer in Landscape Painting. Exh. cat. Pennsylvania Acad. of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Albany Inst. of History & Art. Phil., 1973: 17, 26, no.28.

1974: Howat, John K. "The Thomas Doughty Exhibition." American Art Review 1 (January-February 1974): color repro. 103, 106.

1974: Moore, James C. "The Storm and the Harvest: The Image of Nature in Mid-Nineteenth Century American Landscape Painting." Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1974: 45, color fig. 28.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 551, no. 835, color repro.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 144, repro.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 84, no. 23, color repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 110, repro. 111.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 547, no. 826, color repro.

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 98, no. 26, color repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 160, 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: 131-134, color repro.