Beschreibung:

Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900)Storm King Mountain signed and dated 'J.F. Cropsey 1891' (lower right) watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper 16 1/16 x 26 in. (40.8 x 66 cm.) Executed in 1891.FootnotesProvenance M. Alfred Newhouse, St. Louis, Missouri, acquired from the artist, 1891. Rev. George J. Schwainfurth, Rockford, Illinois, 1891. Private collection, Rockford, Illinois. Sale, Sotheby's, New York, March 14, 1996, lot 8. Acquired at the above sale by the present owner. Literature J.F. Cropsey, Unpublished Letter to George J. Schwainfurth, Rockford, Illinois, October 30, 1891. W.S. Talbot, Jasper F. Cropsey, 1823-1900, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1970, p. 108. W.S. Talbot, Jasper F. Cropsey, 1823-1900, PhD. Dissertation, New York, 1977, p. 474-75. K.W. Maddox, A.M. Speiser, ed., Jasper Francis Cropsey Catalogue Raisonné, Volume Three: Works in Oil, 1885-1900, Watercolors, 1842-1900, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, 2019, vol. III, pp. 229, 233, 236, 319, no. WC180, NCF 2599, illustrated. Kenneth W. Maddox notes that present work by Jasper Francis Cropsey is based on a drawing Cropsey executed in 1853 titled Highlands from Newburgh that depicts General Washington's headquarters at Newburgh with a flag flying above it on the left side. In 1880, Cropsey would return to the area, making several drawings that would be used for a slightly different set of works depicting Gates of the Hudson. In a letter to Reverend George J. Schwainfurth written in 1891 at the request of M. Alfred Newhouse, Cropsey described the present work as "a careful view from the west bank of the Hudson River—south from Newburgh—looking down the river towards the Highlands, or as they are sometimes called 'The Gates of the Hudson.' The high mountain to the right is the 'Storm King.' The small Island at the entrance of the narrow part of the River is now called Iona [sic]—a favourite place for pic-nic Parties in the Summer Time; but once was known as Polly-pell in Revolutionary Times. It is a beautiful Landscape of sky-mountain-River, and Land, and peaceful Hamlet embowered in foliage;—mellowed and toned by an afternoon atmosphere in the 'Mellow autumn Time.'" (as quoted in K.W. Maddox, A.M. Speiser, ed., Jasper Francis Cropsey Catalogue Raisonné, Volume Three: Works in Oil, 1885-1900, Watercolors, 1842-1900, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, 2019, p. 233) Maddox goes on to note that Cropsey has mistakenly confused Pollepel's Island, now known as Bannerman's Island, which is seen in his composition of the present work, with Iona Island, which is below Bear Mountain and opposite Pekkskill at the southern Gates of the Hudson. (Jasper Francis Cropsey Catalogue Raisonné, Volume Three: Works in Oil, 1885-1900, Watercolors, 1842-1900, 2019, p. 233)