Study on Long Island Sound at Darien, Connecticut

Details

JOHN FREDERICK KENSETT (1816-1872)
Study on Long Island Sound at Darien, Connecticut
oil on canvas
15 1⁄2 x 27 3⁄4 in. (39.3 x 70.5 cm.)
Painted in 1872.

Provenance

Robert Carlin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York, 1969.
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, acquired from the above.
Christie’s, New York, 4 December 2003, lot 9, sold by the above.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Literature

J.M. Bloomer, "The Hudson River School Exhibition," American Art Review, May-June 1974, p. 115, no. 4.
A.Y. Smith, "John Frederick Kensett and the Connecticut Shore," American Art Review, September-October 2001, pp. 154-55, 159, no. 5.
A.Y. Smith, "John Frederick Kensett and the Connecticut Shore," Antiques and the Arts Weekly, November 2, 2001, p. 68.

Exhibited

Shreveport, Louisiana, R.W. Norton Art Gallery, The Hudson River School: American Landscape Paintings from 1821-1907, October 14-November 25, 1973, no. 47.
Austin, Texas, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, American Landscape Painting: 1850-1900, September 7-October 17, 1976.
Tulsa, Oklahoma, Thomas Gilcrease Institute, Between Friends, July 18-September 19, 1982.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Realism and Romanticism in 19th Century New England Seascapes, September 15-November 29, 1989, no. 11.
Waterbury, Connecticut, The Mattatuck Museum, Images of Contentment: John Frederick Kensett and the Connecticut Shore, September 15-November 18, 2001, no. 6.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Tylee Abbott Vice President, Head of American Art

tabbott@christies.com +1 212 707 5925

Lot Essay

This painting was reviewed by Dr. John Driscoll for the John Frederick Kensett catalogue raisonné.

During the late 1860s, John Frederick Kensett purchased property in Connecticut near Darien and Rowayton on Contentment Island and subsequently built a studio there. Inspired by his surroundings, he composed several sketches and paintings from various points around the island. As seen in the present work, Kensett developed sparer, more open compositions that explored the passage of light and time and the overall mood of the place. In Study on Long Island Sound at Darien, Connecticut, the scene's strong diagonal leads the viewer in from the closest point in the foreground to the farthest distance on the horizon to emphasize nature's great depth and scale.

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