The Catskills
Asher Brown Durand1859
The Walters Art Museum
Baltimore, United States
This painting was commissioned by William T. Walters in 1858, when the 62-year-old Durand was at the height of his fame and technical skill. The vertical format of the composition was a trademark of the artist, allowing him to exploit the grandeur of the sycamore trees as a means of framing the expansive landscape beyond.
Durand's approach to the "sublime landscape" was modeled on that of Thomas Cole (1801-48), founder of the Hudson River school of painting. The painters of this school explored the countryside of the eastern United States, particularly the Adirondack Mountains and the Catskills. Their paintings often reflect the Transcendental philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82), who believed that all of nature bore testimony to a spiritual truth that could be understood through personal intuition.
- Title: The Catskills
- Creator: Asher Brown Durand (American, 1796-1886)
- Date Created: 1859
- External Link: For more information about this and thousands of other works of art in the Walters Art Museum collection, please visit art.thewalters.org
- Roles: Artist: Asher Brown Durand (American, 1796-1886)
- Provenance: Commissioned by William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1858, by commission [1]; inherited by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931. [1] Commissioned June 8, 1858, payment made May 3, 1859. See letters from Walters to Durand in the New York Public Library, Manuscript Division
- Object Type: oil paintings
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Inscriptions: [Signature] Below: A.B.Durand; [Date] Below: 1859
- Geography: Place of Origin: United States, Place Depicted: Plattekill Clove
- Exhibitions: From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2014-2016., Baltimore Museum of Art's John Russel Pope Wing (Permanent Collection). Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. 2014-2015., Kindred Spirits: Asher B. Durand and the American Landscape. Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington; San Diego Museum Of Art, San Diego. 2007-2008., 19th Century Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara; Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin. 2010-2011., The American Artist as Painter and Draftsman. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2001., Romanticism in America. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. 1940., Highlights from the Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1998-2001.
- Dimensions: H: 62 1/2 x W: 50 1/2 in. (158.8 x 128.3 cm); Framed H: 77 7/8 x W: 66 1/8 x D: 7 1/4 in. (197.8 x 167.96 x 18.42 cm)
- Credit Line: Commissioned by William T. Walters, 1858
- Classification: Painting & Drawing
- Accession Number: 37.122
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