Provenance
The artist [1828-1891]; (his estate sale, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, 29-30 March 1892, 2nd day, no. 89, as _On Mt. Desert_). Private collection.[1] (Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York); acquired 1999 by John Wilmerding; gift 2016 to NGA.
[1] According to the catalogue of the 1997-1998 exhibition at Beacon Hill Fine Art in New York that included the painting.
Accession Number
2016.141.1
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 27.1 × 40.4 cm (10 11/16 × 15 7/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of John Wilmerding in honor of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz
Tags
Painting Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) Oil Painting Canvas American
Background & Context
Background Story
Jervis McEntee (1828-1891) was an American painter known for the atmospheric, melancholy landscapes that make him one of the most distinctive painters of the Hudson River School. Mount Desert Island, Maine from 1864 depicts the Maine landscape in the atmospheric, melancholy manner that distinguishes McEntee's best work from the more grandiose landscape painting of his Hudson River School contemporaries. The 1864 date places this during the Civil War, and McEntee's atmospheric, melancholy approach to landscape has often been connected to the melancholy of the wartime period.
Cultural Impact
Mount Desert Island, Maine is important in the history of American landscape painting because it demonstrates the atmospheric, melancholy manner that McEntee brought to landscape painting as one of the most distinctive painters of the Hudson River School. McEntee's atmospheric, melancholy landscapes—emphasizing mood over grandeur—represent an alternative to the more grandiose manner of the Hudson River School, and the 1864 painting shows this alternative in the context of the Civil War period.
Why It Matters
Mount Desert Island, Maine is McEntee's melancholy Hudson River School: the Maine landscape rendered in the atmospheric, melancholy manner of one of the most distinctive painters of the Hudson River School. The 1864 painting shows the alternative to grandiose landscape—mood over grandeur—in the context of the Civil War period.
![Saint Bernard and Saint Catherine of Alexandria with the Virgin of the Annunciation [right panel]](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/e6890364-4d99-4684-a62b-5060ee3c3446/full/400,/0/default.jpg)