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.
Accession Number
1963.9.2
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.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of the Avalon Foundation
Tags
Painting Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Oil Painting Canvas American
Background & Context
Background Story
Thomas Doughty (1793-1856) was an American painter known as one of the pioneers of the American landscape painting tradition, whose poetic, atmospheric landscapes make him an important forerunner of the Hudson River School. Fanciful Landscape from 1834 depicts a landscape in the poetic, atmospheric manner that distinguishes Doughty's best work from the more grandiose landscape painting of the Hudson River School. The 1834 date places this in Doughty's most productive period, when he was producing the poetic, atmospheric landscapes that are his most accomplished works, before the more grandiose manner of the Hudson River School eclipsed his gentler approach.
Cultural Impact
Fanciful Landscape is important in the history of American landscape painting because it demonstrates the poetic, atmospheric manner that Doughty brought to landscape painting as one of the pioneers of the American landscape tradition. Doughty's poetic landscapes—emphasizing atmospheric effect over grandiose scale—represent an alternative to the grandiose manner of the Hudson River School, and the 1834 painting shows this alternative at its most poetic and atmospheric.
Why It Matters
Fanciful Landscape is Doughty's poetic American landscape: a fanciful scene rendered in the atmospheric manner of one of the pioneers of the American landscape tradition. The 1834 painting shows an alternative to the grandiose Hudson River School—poetic atmosphere over grand scale.
