View on the Hudson, the Catskills in the Distance

Provenance

Kennedy Galleries, New York, New York

Mrs. Norman B. Woolworth, New York

Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, New York

Wolf Family Collection, Texas, acquired from above, November 14, 1979

Sale, Sotheby’s, New York, New York, April 19, 2023, lot 48, from above

Exhibited

Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, New York, The American Painting Collection of Mrs. Norman B. Woolworth, November 10–28, 1970

Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, New York, American Luminism, October 25–November 25, 1978

Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, New York, Francis A. Silva (1835–1886): In His Own Light, April 24–June 28, 2002

Literature

The American Painting Collection of Mrs. Norman B. Woolworth (New York: Coe Kerr Gallery, Inc., 1970), 60, no. 105.

American Luminism (New York: Coe Kerr Gallery, 1978), n.p., no. 31.

John I. H. Baur, “Francis A Silva: Beyond Luminism,” The Magazine Antiques 118 (November 1980): 1023, fig. 7.

Barbara Novak, The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection: Nineteenth-Century American Painting (London: Philip Wilson Publishers, 1986), 142, fig. 1.

Francis A. Silva (1835–1886): In His Own Light (New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 2002), 84, 129, pl. 18.

Related Works

On the Hudson near Haverstraw, 1872, oil on canvas, 18¼ x 30⅜ inches; Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois

Kingston Point, Hudson River, ca. 1873, oil on canvas, 20 x 35 13/16 inches; Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain

The Hudson at the Tappan Zee, 1876, oil on canvas, 24 x 42 3/16 inches, signed lower left; Brooklyn Museum, New York

Note

Francis Augustus Silva made frequent trips along the Hudson River studying light effects and creating sketches to use back at his studio in New York. This work showcases the artist’s mastery of light as he bathes the sky in tinted hues that reflect across the rippled water.

Erving and Joyce (Joy) Wolf were passionate art collectors who amassed a remarkable collection throughout their marriage with works by some of the most recognizable American artists of the 19^th and 20^th century.