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Sunset, Newburyport Meadows

Date
1863
Material
Oil on board
Classification
Paintings
Collection
American Art
Current Location
On View, Gallery 335
Dimensions
10 x 18 1/2 in. (25.4 x 47 cm)
framed: 15 1/8 x 23 1/2 x 2 1/8 in. (38.4 x 59.7 x 5.4 cm)
Credit Line
Museum Purchase
Rights
Public Domain
Object Number
96:1973
NOTES
The radiant glow from a setting sun silhouettes low hanging clouds. The light also reflects on shallow water, whose meandering path recedes back through flat, salt marshes. Located near popular tourist spots, these quiet marsh areas were an unusual subject for American landscape painters at the time, who typically depicted grandiose mountain vistas. Many interpret these scenes as a visual respite, a meditative salve, for the trauma of the Civil War (1861–65).
Victor Spark, New York, NY, USA [1]

by 1961 -
Lee B. Anderson, New York, NY [2]

- 1973
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY

1973 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Hirschl & Adler Galleries [3]


Notes:
The main source for this provenance is the Heade catalogue raisonné by Theodore E. Stebbins [Stebbins, Theodore E., Jr. "The Life and Work of Martin Johnson Heade: A Critical Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné." New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2000, cat. 115].

[1] A letter from Theodore Stebbins to the Museum regarding this painting indicates that it was previously in the collection of Victor Spark [letter dated March 12, 1974, SLAM document files].

[2] This painting (titled "Haystack at Sunset") was included in a 1961 exhibition of the collection of Lee B. Anderson ["American Romantic Paintings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Collection of Lee B. Anderson." New London, CT: Lyman Allyn Museum, February 26 - March 26, 1961, cat. 42]. The invoice from Hirschl & Adler Galleries dated November 1, 1973 also indicates that the painting was previously in the collection of Mr. Lee B. Anderson, New York [SLAM document files].

[3] Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, October 31, 1973.

We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.

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