Description
Munich-trained Gottwald taught for more than four decades at the Cleveland School (now Institute) of Art, and was the most influential figure in the city’s burgeoning artistic development. During the years leading up to World War I, he spent summers in Italy, where he created this work, the first painting by a living artist acquired by the museum.
Provenance
[]
Accession Number
1915.88
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
Unframed: 72.8 x 60.4 cm (28 11/16 x 23 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. John Huntington
Tags
Painting Early Modern (1901–1950) Oil Painting Canvas American Color: Teal Color: Gray
Background & Context
Background Story
Frederick Gottwald (1858-1941) was an American painter known for the atmospheric landscape paintings that make him one of the most important painters of the Cleveland School. The Umbrian Valley, Italy from 1914 depicts the Umbrian valley in the atmospheric, Tonalist manner that distinguishes Gottwald's best work from the more brightly colored painting of his contemporaries. The 1914 date places this in Gottwald's mature period, when he was producing the atmospheric landscapes that are his most accomplished works, and the Italian subject connects him to the long tradition of American artists painting in Italy.
Cultural Impact
The Umbrian Valley, Italy is important in the history of the Cleveland School because it demonstrates the atmospheric, Tonalist manner that Gottwald brought to landscape painting as one of the most important painters of the Cleveland School. Gottwald's atmospheric landscapes—combining Tonalist atmosphere with the precise observation of Italian landscape—represent one of the most accomplished traditions in Cleveland School painting, and the 1914 painting shows this tradition at its most atmospheric.
Why It Matters
The Umbrian Valley, Italy is Gottwald's Tonalist Cleveland School landscape: the Umbrian valley rendered in the atmospheric manner of one of the most important painters of the Cleveland School. The 1914 painting shows the combination of Tonalist atmosphere with the precise observation of Italian landscape that connects American regional painting to the long tradition of artists working in Italy.
![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)
