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Lot Essay
John Frederick Kensett remains one of the most accomplished landscape painters in American history, having over the course of his relatively short career produced some of the finest paintings to emerge from the collective body of work of the Hudson River School. Adept at landscapes and seascapes alike, Kensett was a master at generating a feeling for atmosphere and light. His landscapes often depict inland lakes or ponds and his ability to capture the fleeting effects of a reflection on the water's surface is impressive. Kensett and his contemporaries like Frederic Edwin Church, Sanford Robinson Gifford and Martin Johnson Heade believed that the American landscape had the power to express religious and patriotic values and their paintings became celebrations of America's domain.
A year after the present work, Mountain Lake, was painted, Henry Tuckerman commented that "the calm sweetness of Kensett's best efforts, the conscientiousness with which he preserves local diversities -- the evenness of manner, the patience in detail, the harmonious tone -- all are traceable to the artist's feeling and innate disposition, as well as to his skill. If we desired to carry abroad genuine memorials of native scenery -- to keep alive its impression in a foreign land -- we should select half-a-dozen of Kensett's landscapes." (Book of the Artists, New York, 1867, p. 514) This kind of praise is testament to the artist's ability to paint pictures that affected the viewer on a physical level as well as an emotional one.
Kensett's palette was dependent on his own theory about the appearance of colors in nature. He "believed that there were universal laws of color implicit in nature, and that 'bright colors are sparingly distributed throughout the natural world...even in [the] season of bloom.'" Throughout his career, Kensett held true to this doctrine, and its alluring result is the "focused attention on tonal gradations and on values of hues," (J. Driscoll and J. Howat, John Frederick Kensett: An American Master, New York, 1985, pp. 126-7) rather than on vivid splashes of color.
Unlike some of his colleagues, "Kensett was rarely drawn to dramatic subjects. Nature's challenging side, its awesome or threatening aspects, were alien to his sense of harmony and the sublime. Even when he painted Niagara Falls, the natural wonder that had fascinated countless Victorian visitors with its terrifying size, irresistible force, and deafening roar, he portrayed the powerful cataract as an integral part of the larger universe...He was not at ease with the emotional excitement it caused and moved his viewpoint back to place the cataract in the comforting context of the surrounding landscape. The effect is to diminish its magnitude." (John Frederick Kensett: An American Master, p. 86) This search for quietude carries over from his large 1853 to 1854 oil painting of Niagara Falls to the later Mountain Lake, a work exuding a hushed serenity. This overall effect of tranquil harmony sets Kensett's work apart, cementing his reputation as one of the Hudson River School's unique talents.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming John F. Kensett catalogue raisonné being prepared under the direction of Dr. John Driscoll.
A year after the present work, Mountain Lake, was painted, Henry Tuckerman commented that "the calm sweetness of Kensett's best efforts, the conscientiousness with which he preserves local diversities -- the evenness of manner, the patience in detail, the harmonious tone -- all are traceable to the artist's feeling and innate disposition, as well as to his skill. If we desired to carry abroad genuine memorials of native scenery -- to keep alive its impression in a foreign land -- we should select half-a-dozen of Kensett's landscapes." (Book of the Artists, New York, 1867, p. 514) This kind of praise is testament to the artist's ability to paint pictures that affected the viewer on a physical level as well as an emotional one.
Kensett's palette was dependent on his own theory about the appearance of colors in nature. He "believed that there were universal laws of color implicit in nature, and that 'bright colors are sparingly distributed throughout the natural world...even in [the] season of bloom.'" Throughout his career, Kensett held true to this doctrine, and its alluring result is the "focused attention on tonal gradations and on values of hues," (J. Driscoll and J. Howat, John Frederick Kensett: An American Master, New York, 1985, pp. 126-7) rather than on vivid splashes of color.
Unlike some of his colleagues, "Kensett was rarely drawn to dramatic subjects. Nature's challenging side, its awesome or threatening aspects, were alien to his sense of harmony and the sublime. Even when he painted Niagara Falls, the natural wonder that had fascinated countless Victorian visitors with its terrifying size, irresistible force, and deafening roar, he portrayed the powerful cataract as an integral part of the larger universe...He was not at ease with the emotional excitement it caused and moved his viewpoint back to place the cataract in the comforting context of the surrounding landscape. The effect is to diminish its magnitude." (John Frederick Kensett: An American Master, p. 86) This search for quietude carries over from his large 1853 to 1854 oil painting of Niagara Falls to the later Mountain Lake, a work exuding a hushed serenity. This overall effect of tranquil harmony sets Kensett's work apart, cementing his reputation as one of the Hudson River School's unique talents.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming John F. Kensett catalogue raisonné being prepared under the direction of Dr. John Driscoll.