Sunset Over the Shawangunks
8½ x 14⅞ inches
Estate stamp on verso
Provenance
(Possibly) F. S. Sarm, by 1881
Private collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Private collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by descent from above
Questroyal Fine Art, LLC, New York, New York, acquired from above, 2013
Private collection, New York, New York, acquired from above, 2013
Questroyal Fine Art, LLC, New York, New York, acquired from above, 2014
Private collection, Bethesda, Maryland, acquired from above, 2015
Literature
(Possibly) Catalogue of Valuable Oil Paintings, Works of the Famous Artist, Sanford R. Gifford, N. A. Deceased (New York: Thos E. Kirby and Co., 1881), 17, no. 69 (as Traps, Shawangunk Mountains).
Related Works
From the Shawangunk Mountains, oil on canvas on panel, 3⅛ x 5⅜ inches; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Indians at Campfire–Moon Rising, oil on paper laid down on canvas, 4¾ x 10⅛ inches; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Sunset in the Shawangunk Mountains, 1854, oil on canvas; The Warner Collection, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Shawangunk Mountains, 1861(?), graphite on paper, 5 9/16 x 9 inches, inscribed lower left: Shawangunk Mts; Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Shawangunk Mountains, 1864, oil on canvas, 9 x 16 inches, signed and dated lower left: S R Gifford 1864; Collection of Cheryl and Blair Effron, New York, New York
View of the Trapps, Shawangunk Mountains, 1864, graphite on paper, 3⅛ x 4 15/16 inches; Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Sketchbook: Shawangunk Mountains, N.Y.: Mt. Katadin and Lake Millinocket, Me., 1873–79, graphite on paper, 4½ x 8½ inches; The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York
Note
Gifford visited the Shawangunk Mountains as early as 1850.[1] Known for their rugged, dramatic beauty, the Shawangunk Mountains attracted tourists from New York City, some of whom were excited to visit the tavern at Lake Mohonk that opened in 1859. For both artists and travelers, the scenery was magnificent, with its “enormous masses of granite” and thickets of “laurel and evergreen trees,” as well as incredible views of the rivers and valleys surrounding it. Among several oil versions the artist explored, a larger work of the site was included on Gifford’s list of “chief pictures” and exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1865.[2]
[1] Kevin J. Avery, Sanford R. Gifford: In the Catskills (Catskill, NY: Thomas Cole National Historic Site, 2017), 27.
[2] Kevin J. Avery and Franklin Kelly, eds., Hudson River School Visions: The Landscapes of Sanford R. Gifford (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003), 164.
