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Lot Essay
RELATED LITERATURE:
A.F. Janson, Worthington Whittredge, Cambridge, 1989, p. 159, fig. 118
Autumn on the Delaware is the largest and most complete of Whittredge's canvases of this subject. He executed the painting around 1876, at a point in his career when his art was undergoing significant change. During these years Whittredge began to adopt Barbizon stylistic elements in his landscapes, largely in response to changing taste among collectors and critics who now favored this new French aesthetic. A.F. Janson writes of Whittredge's landscapes from this period, "The artist's previous delight in technical bravura and crisp highlights has given way to a more painterly approach and subdued tonality, suggesting a new expressive intent. The landscape partakes of George Inness's dreamlike vision and represents Whittredge's first exploration of Barbizon painting in nearly a decade. The russet colors, new to his landscapes were undoubtedly derived from Jervis McEntee, who adopted the same palette and silvery light as early as the mid-1860s. Whittredge uses it to impose an elusive veil across the flat, abstract composition, evoking a broad range of associations beyond time and place." (Janson, p. 158)
Whittredge may have exhibited Autumn on the Delaware at the National Academy of Design in 1876, where it was listed with a price of $700, more than twice what the artist usually asked for his pictures and an indication of its significance within his oeuvre. Critics reviewing the exhibition noted, "'An Autumn on the Delaware' by Mr. Whittredge is very tenderly painted. The autumn tints are subdued yet forcible in effect, and the work is well kept together. Mr. Whittredge paints the brilliant phases of autumn foliage with charming taste."
A.F. Janson, Worthington Whittredge, Cambridge, 1989, p. 159, fig. 118
Autumn on the Delaware is the largest and most complete of Whittredge's canvases of this subject. He executed the painting around 1876, at a point in his career when his art was undergoing significant change. During these years Whittredge began to adopt Barbizon stylistic elements in his landscapes, largely in response to changing taste among collectors and critics who now favored this new French aesthetic. A.F. Janson writes of Whittredge's landscapes from this period, "The artist's previous delight in technical bravura and crisp highlights has given way to a more painterly approach and subdued tonality, suggesting a new expressive intent. The landscape partakes of George Inness's dreamlike vision and represents Whittredge's first exploration of Barbizon painting in nearly a decade. The russet colors, new to his landscapes were undoubtedly derived from Jervis McEntee, who adopted the same palette and silvery light as early as the mid-1860s. Whittredge uses it to impose an elusive veil across the flat, abstract composition, evoking a broad range of associations beyond time and place." (Janson, p. 158)
Whittredge may have exhibited Autumn on the Delaware at the National Academy of Design in 1876, where it was listed with a price of $700, more than twice what the artist usually asked for his pictures and an indication of its significance within his oeuvre. Critics reviewing the exhibition noted, "'An Autumn on the Delaware' by Mr. Whittredge is very tenderly painted. The autumn tints are subdued yet forcible in effect, and the work is well kept together. Mr. Whittredge paints the brilliant phases of autumn foliage with charming taste."