.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
A letter from the recognized expert on the artist, Dr. Ila Weiss, accompanies this lot.
In the summer of 1867, Sanford Robinson Gifford spent a season on the seashore painting views of the New Jersey coast from locations in Sea Bright, Long Branch and Sandy Hook. Paintings from this period exemplify Gifford’s mastery of the effects of light, with the ocean and reflective coastal rivers of the region providing inspiration and ample subject matter. The present painting depicts Sandy Hook Bay, between the mainland Atlantic Highlands and Sandy Hook peninsula where the Shrewsbury River empties into the ocean. According to Dr. Ila Weiss, the present work “is the only known study for an important lost exhibition piece, Sunset Over the Mouth of the Shrewsbury River, Sandy Hook, N.J. That painting was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1868, the Brooklyn Art Association in 1869, and the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876 and it was included on the artist’s ‘List of Chief Pictures’.” (unpublished letter, March 2019)
Although the location of the exhibition piece is presently unknown, it was regarded as one of the artist’s greatest achievements at the time of its debut. A contemporary critic commented, “To the exhibition of the Academy in 1868 Mr. Gifford sent a view of the sterile sand-beach at Sandy Hook, in which his power as an artist, in combining the realistic with the imaginative elements of composition, was most brilliantly displayed. The scene in Nature is a broad and sandy beach, with a line of telegraph-poles leading off into perspective but in connection with these uninteresting features Mr. Gifford introduced the rolling and billowing storm clouds, dark and mysterious at the horizon line, and...the foreground aglow with the tenderly-toned mellow light of the sun, the strong rays of which were not yet pent in by the gathering gloom. The effect is grand.” (as quoted in I. Weiss, Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880), New York, 1977, p. 271)
The present finished study establishes the dazzling effects described in the exhibition piece and, according to Dr. Weiss, is a “virtuosic display of Gifford’s delight in effects of light and color.” A luminist achievement in its own right, The Mouth of the Shrewsbury River delivers striking compositional balance between the land and sea, stillness and motion, and light and dark. Drama permeates the scene as an impending storm intrudes on the sunlit waters and delicately painted sails. Dr. Weiss declares, “The painting is a symphony of visual effects, large and small—retained and no doubt clarified in the exhibition piece—an extraordinary display of Gifford’s individuality and mastery, recognized in his own time and, thanks to this oil study, still appreciated today.” (unpublished letter, March 2019)
In the summer of 1867, Sanford Robinson Gifford spent a season on the seashore painting views of the New Jersey coast from locations in Sea Bright, Long Branch and Sandy Hook. Paintings from this period exemplify Gifford’s mastery of the effects of light, with the ocean and reflective coastal rivers of the region providing inspiration and ample subject matter. The present painting depicts Sandy Hook Bay, between the mainland Atlantic Highlands and Sandy Hook peninsula where the Shrewsbury River empties into the ocean. According to Dr. Ila Weiss, the present work “is the only known study for an important lost exhibition piece, Sunset Over the Mouth of the Shrewsbury River, Sandy Hook, N.J. That painting was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1868, the Brooklyn Art Association in 1869, and the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876 and it was included on the artist’s ‘List of Chief Pictures’.” (unpublished letter, March 2019)
Although the location of the exhibition piece is presently unknown, it was regarded as one of the artist’s greatest achievements at the time of its debut. A contemporary critic commented, “To the exhibition of the Academy in 1868 Mr. Gifford sent a view of the sterile sand-beach at Sandy Hook, in which his power as an artist, in combining the realistic with the imaginative elements of composition, was most brilliantly displayed. The scene in Nature is a broad and sandy beach, with a line of telegraph-poles leading off into perspective but in connection with these uninteresting features Mr. Gifford introduced the rolling and billowing storm clouds, dark and mysterious at the horizon line, and...the foreground aglow with the tenderly-toned mellow light of the sun, the strong rays of which were not yet pent in by the gathering gloom. The effect is grand.” (as quoted in I. Weiss, Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880), New York, 1977, p. 271)
The present finished study establishes the dazzling effects described in the exhibition piece and, according to Dr. Weiss, is a “virtuosic display of Gifford’s delight in effects of light and color.” A luminist achievement in its own right, The Mouth of the Shrewsbury River delivers striking compositional balance between the land and sea, stillness and motion, and light and dark. Drama permeates the scene as an impending storm intrudes on the sunlit waters and delicately painted sails. Dr. Weiss declares, “The painting is a symphony of visual effects, large and small—retained and no doubt clarified in the exhibition piece—an extraordinary display of Gifford’s individuality and mastery, recognized in his own time and, thanks to this oil study, still appreciated today.” (unpublished letter, March 2019)