Winter in the Country, c. 1858

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 45.7 x 61.1 cm (18 x 24 1/16 in.)

framed: 70.2 x 85.4 x 8.6 cm (27 5/8 x 33 5/8 x 3 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Accession Number

1994.59.1

Artists / Makers

George Henry Durrie (painter) American, 1820 - 1863

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

lower left: DURRIE / N HAVEN

Provenance

(sale, Sotheby's, New York, 21 April 1977, no. 19); Mr. and Mrs. George J. Arden, New York, until 1988;[1] (Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York); sold November 1988 to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1994 to NGA.

[1] Martha Young Hutson (in George Henry Durrie (1820-1863): American Winter Landscapist Renowned through Currier and Ives, Santa Barbara, California, 1977: 222) lists the painting as being in the collection of the Physicians Planning Service Corporation, of which George Arden was founder and chief executive officer. Mr. Arden died in 1983, and his wife inherited the collection.

Associated Names

Arden, George J., Mr. and Mrs.
Berry-Hill Galleries
Mellon, Paul
Sotheby's

Exhibition History

1983: Nineteenth Century American Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. George J. Arden, The Gallery, Morris R. Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, 1983, illus. 7, as New Haven Winter.

Technical Summary

The medium-weight, plain-weave fabric support is stretched onto a simple mortise-and-tenon stretcher. The painting is unlined and the stretcher is original. The reverse of the fabric bears a colormen's stencil in the shape of an artist's palette that reads: "From Raynolds Devoe & Pratt / Importers / Artists & Painters Materials /106 & 108 Fulton St./ New York."[1] The fabric was primed with a cool, off-white ground layer by the commercial manufacturer. The paint layer was generally smoothly and thinly applied, notably in the sky, although there is impasto in the clouds and in the whites of the snow in the buildings and foreground. The paint layer is heavily abraded, especially in the sky. Losses in the sky have been inpainted in the upper right area of the canvas. The painting is in good condition. The varnish has not discolored.

[1] About another work with the same colormen's stencil, Mayer 1941-1942, 135-136, writes: "The portrait which bears the ribbon-on-palette design of Raynolds, Devoe and Pratt can be reasonable dated 1863-1864. The Devoe firm, which during that period advertised itself as being 'the oldest paint company in the entire world,' has operated continuously since 1754 under fourteen changes of firm name at several addresses and under this one, from 1858 to 1863, but it is doubtful whether it was an active specialist in artist's grade materials, or sold canvas prior to 1863. A palette design of the same size was used in the next period." If Winter in the Country dates from circa 1858, then Devoe was indeed supplying artist-grade materials before 1863.

Bibliography

1977: Hutson, Martha Young. George Henry Durrie (1820-1863): American Winter Landscapist Renowned through Currier and Ives. Exh. cat. 4 venues. Santa Barbara, California, 1977: no. 180, fig. 105, as Winter in the Country, Farmyard (not shown in exh.).

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: 149-151, color repro.