Provenance
Recorded as from Hampden Highlands, Maine.[1] (Daisy C. Miller, city unknown). (Robert G. Hall, Dover-Foxcroft, Maine), by whom sold in 1949 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift to NGA, 1953.
[1] A letter to Colonel Garbisch from Rebecca Shepherd dated 9 May 1957, in NGA curatorial files, states that Miller bought the painting "in Hampden Maine from the attic of one of the old houses there, the day of an auction." The Garbisches' own records identify this location as Hampden Highlands.
Accession Number
1953.5.87
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 59.7 x 97.8 cm (23 1/2 x 38 1/2 in.) | framed: 78.1 x 115.6 x 6.6 cm (30 3/4 x 45 1/2 x 2 5/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch
Tags
Painting Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Oil Painting Canvas American
Background & Context
Background Story
New England Farm in Winter from 1850 or after depicts a New England farmstead in the snow with the regional specificity and seasonal subject that distinguish American genre landscape painting of the mid-19th century. The winter subject allows the anonymous painter to exercise the tonal subtlety that snow scenes require, and the New England farm subject reflects the regional landscape tradition that was developing alongside the more grandiose Hudson River School manner. The 1850+ date places this in the period when American landscape painting was beginning to develop regional variations on the national landscape manner.
Cultural Impact
New England Farm in Winter is important in the history of American landscape painting because it demonstrates the regional variation on the Hudson River School manner that was developing in the mid-19th century. The New England farmstead in snow shows that American landscape painting was not limited to the grand manner of the Hudson River School but could adapt the national landscape tradition to the specific conditions and seasonal effects of regional subjects.
Why It Matters
New England Farm in Winter is American regional landscape adapting the national manner: a New England farmstead in snow that demonstrates the regional variation on the Hudson River School's landscape tradition. The 1850+ painting shows American landscape painting developing specific regional and seasonal subjects.
