Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park

For Laurance Rockefeller – who acquired this painting in the 1960s and added it to the historic furnishings of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Mansion – it was a reminder of his family’s long loyalty to Grand Teton National Park, and the preservation of the mountains, lake and valley in that spectacularly beautiful and dramatic part of the West.

This glowing sunset view of Lake George was painted by Kensett in the final year of his life. It may have been purchased by Frederick and Julia Billings after his death, one of the six hundred works of art offered at the auction that emptied the contents of the artist’s studio in New York in March 1873.

Several views of the countryside in New England and New York favor autumn in their woodland colors. They evoke the New England landscapes that the Billings family knew well. Autumn foliage was a signature feature and event in the Northeast, inspiring artists, writers, and sightseers of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The location is of interest because this scene was painted near “Bingham Place” in Oceanic, New Jersey, the country home and summer retreat of Julia Parmly Billings’ family in her girlhood. This painting is inscribed on the back “To Miss Julia Parmly / from J.F.K. / May 30th ’56.” It was a gift from Kensett at a time when he and his fellow artists Louis Lang, J.W. Casilear, Anton Wenzler, and T.P. Rossiter were part of an artistic and social circle in New York City that included the Parmly family.

Views of the Yosemite Valley and the San Francisco coastal cliffs evoke the Billings’ residence in California. Frederick was an Argonaut, one of the newcomers who arrived in San Francisco during the Gold Rush of 1849. He lived in California for a number of years thereafter, and brought his new bride Julia to San Francisco in 1862. Together they owned a portfolio of mammoth photo views of Yosemite, made by the pioneering landscape photographer Carleton Watkins.

A winter view of the Yosemite Valley with snow on the ground, by an artist best known for his marine and Arctic scenes. Bradford was a namesake and descendant of the New England Puritan leader. He grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts, like his slightly younger contemporary Albert Bierstadt. Bradford turned to art in middle life, studying under a Dutch marine artist named Albert Van Beest. He exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum, the National Academy, and the Royal Academy. His studio was in New York City throughout most of his career.

Mount Hood recalls the distinctive landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, highlighted along the route of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Frederick Billings was President during the railroad’s crucial early years, and was instrumental in bringing it to completion.

This large pastoral landscape shows the influence of the French Barbizon School on American artists like Minor. The Barbizon artists painted in the open air, and their favored artistic retreat was the Forest of Fontainbleau outside Paris. The “vail” or valley of the River Kennett, in the countryside east of Cambridge, England was the subject of Minor’s painting.

In his diary for May 29, 1884, Frederick Billings wrote “Lanthiers sent up Hayborn picture mending nets & I took the Venice of Gifford bought [by Lanthiers] at sale last night… Wish to get the house beautiful so as to enjoy it while I live.” L.A. Lanthier was a New York art dealer from whom Frederick and Julia Billings often purchased paintings and decorative objects.

Frederick and Julia Billings acquired three Egyptian scenes by Charles Théodore Frère, a French landscape and genre painter. The Billings did not have the pleasure of traveling in Europe or the Near East together. However, in 1893, some years after Frederick’s death, Julia toured Egypt and the Mediterranean with several of her adult children.

The Billings' selection of exotic views displays a consistent interest in landscape, rather than anecdote or exotic sensuality. It is that emphasis on the beauties of landscape which unites those exotic scenes with the rest of the art collection.

This expansive seascape, typical of Edward Moran’s most accomplished work, is subtitled “A Squally Day at the Narrows”. It depicts the Verazzano Narrows that give entry to the harbor of New York City, in a seaward view near the fortification on Governor’s Island. It shows a grey rainy sky with sailing ships of many sizes, joined by one small steam vessel, moving across a light sea. The Narrows are now spanned by a bridge, but in the nineteenth century the vista was open, and busy with boat traffic. Frederick and Julia Billings would have known the harbor well, from many years of residence in the city and travel to its outlying shores.

This painting is identified in Julia Billings’ inventory as “Long Island Shore Near Little Neck – Clam Gatherers”. It calls to mind northern European shore scenes by artists of the Düsseldorf School, and by French realists such as Courbet and Millet. Scenes of traditional country labor in fields, forests, and seashores were characteristic of those artists. It is one of three works by Edward Moran, two oils and a large watercolor, acquired by Frederick and Julia Billings for the Mansion collection.