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Lot Essay
During William Bradford's most ambitious trip to the arctic in 1869, the artist wrote, "The icebergs were innumerable, of every possible form and shape, and ever changing. As the sun in his circuit fell upon different parts of the same berg, it developed continually new phases. On one side would be a towering mass in shadow, on the other a majestic berg glistened in sunlight; so that without leaving the vessel's deck I could study every variety of light and shade." (J. Wilmerding, William Bradford, Artist of the Arctic, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1969, p. 20)
Bradford first set out for the northernmost latitudes of the arctic in the summer of 1861, visiting Labrador and Greenland to paint some of the earliest images of this remote region. While there, he also conducted an extensive photographic survey, and recorded his encounters with the indigenous Esquimaux people. Nearly every year over the following decade, Bradford mounted additional expeditions to the arctic, using his photographs and numerous sketches to form the basis of his many later compositions in oil. As noted by John Wilmerding, "an immensely successful career followed in the wake of his pursuit of the exotic, so similar to Church's. Bradford got extensive backing for later trips, and was subsequently rewarded with publication of his accounts in England and the sale in 1875 of a painting to Queen Victoria." (J. Wilmerding, American Marine Painting, New York, 1987, p. 138)
Taking note of the artist's fidelity to the appearance of ships and topography, the nineteenth-century art-historian Henry Tuckerman quoted a contemporary account of one of Bradford's arctic excursions: " Clad in the sealskin suits of the Esquimaux, Mr. Bradford managed to protect himself from the cold sufficiently to enable him to make many studies, some of them very remarkable in color, and all novel and interesting in subject. The larger part of his studies are of icebergs, various in their forms, some resembling grand old castles and ruins, and others of odd fantastic shapes. When the sun falls full upon them their color is a pure dazzling white; but the portions which are in shade are blue, or green, or purple, fading into delicate tints of gray, and shot with rays of pink and saffron." (H.T. Tuckerman, Book of the Artists, New York, 1967, pp.554-555)
Arctic Sunset with Rainbow is a majestic example of the artist's most striking legacy, his interpretations of the arctic wilderness.
Bradford first set out for the northernmost latitudes of the arctic in the summer of 1861, visiting Labrador and Greenland to paint some of the earliest images of this remote region. While there, he also conducted an extensive photographic survey, and recorded his encounters with the indigenous Esquimaux people. Nearly every year over the following decade, Bradford mounted additional expeditions to the arctic, using his photographs and numerous sketches to form the basis of his many later compositions in oil. As noted by John Wilmerding, "an immensely successful career followed in the wake of his pursuit of the exotic, so similar to Church's. Bradford got extensive backing for later trips, and was subsequently rewarded with publication of his accounts in England and the sale in 1875 of a painting to Queen Victoria." (J. Wilmerding, American Marine Painting, New York, 1987, p. 138)
Taking note of the artist's fidelity to the appearance of ships and topography, the nineteenth-century art-historian Henry Tuckerman quoted a contemporary account of one of Bradford's arctic excursions: " Clad in the sealskin suits of the Esquimaux, Mr. Bradford managed to protect himself from the cold sufficiently to enable him to make many studies, some of them very remarkable in color, and all novel and interesting in subject. The larger part of his studies are of icebergs, various in their forms, some resembling grand old castles and ruins, and others of odd fantastic shapes. When the sun falls full upon them their color is a pure dazzling white; but the portions which are in shade are blue, or green, or purple, fading into delicate tints of gray, and shot with rays of pink and saffron." (H.T. Tuckerman, Book of the Artists, New York, 1967, pp.554-555)
Arctic Sunset with Rainbow is a majestic example of the artist's most striking legacy, his interpretations of the arctic wilderness.