Hudson River Views Art Auction Ending 2/16

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The View has Storm King Mountain on the left and Breakneck Mountain on the right. Newburgh Bay is above the Highlands. Framed oil on canvas measuring: Sight 12x22”, Framed 16.25x26”. Partial AskArt Biography: Thomas Benjamin Pope was born in New York City in 1834, a son of Benjamin Pope. Prior to the War Between the States, he moved to Newburgh, NY. When the Civil War began, he enlisted in the Union Army, becoming a 2nd Lieut. in the first company of the 56th NY Volunteers. This was the famous Tenth Legion, under the command of Captain Thomas S. Marvel. Pope was wounded during the raid made by Stewart's Cavalry in the valley of the Potomac. After Appomattox, he returned to Newburgh and devoted himself to his life-long desire of painting. While he had a natural talent for drawing and painting, his art career took active form from the year 1854. He developed a reputation in water colors as well as in oils. He did some designing, but his first love was original paintings, preferably landscapes. On May 6, 1891, Pope had gone to Fishkill Landing to give an art lesson. Upon his return to the ferry, a fast train of the NY Central and Hudson River struck and killed him instantly. His untimely death at the age of 57 cut short a promising artistic career." Estimate: $3,000-$6,000.

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Framed oil on board: Sight: 9.25x13.25”. Overall: 18.5x22.5”. Partial AskArt Bio: He was active/lived in Connecticut and New York. He was known for portrait and landscape painting. Estimate: $2,000-$4,000.

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Signed lower right, circa 1880. Framed oil on canvas. Sight: 9.25x16.25” Overall: 16x23”. Partial AskArt Bio: Fred Pansing, a painter of ships, was born in Germany in 1844. After five years as a sailor, where he spent his spare time drawing sailing vessels, he came to New York City in 1865, hoping to make a life as an artist. After some time working in the grocery belonging to his brother, Pansing found employment making detailed, colorful prints of ships for the American Lithographic Company. Sailing ships were very popular subject matter, in high demand during their day. When steam driven ships replaced the use of sail, the public desire for paintings and prints of such "romantic" vessels continued, with nostalgia for their passing an added element of interest, along with their intrinsic beauty. While his oil paintings are rare, Fred Pansing's talent and maritime experience made him a perfect fit for the print market. He died in 1912, having served, in the last years of his life, as manager of the Arts Club of New Jersey from 1910 to 1911. Top Auction Record: $67,200. Estimate: $10,000 - $20,000.

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Measures: Sight: 7”x11”. Overall 13.5x17.5”. Partial AskArt Bio: Homer Dodge Martin (1836-1897): Martin was born in 1836 in Albany, New York and as a young man worked as a carpenter and architect. In 1852, he turned to painting, having been encouraged by sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer. Ten years later he moved to New York City, where he lived for thirty years. After moving to New York, he began to paint areas in the upstate New York area including the Hudson River Valley, although it is believed that the Adirondacks provided Martin his favorite venue for sketching. He studied the Hudson River landscapes of John Frederick Kensett, and made friends with John La Farge, who was known for his landscapes and still lifes. Partial AskArt Bio: Robert Walter Weir 1803-1889: Settling in New York, Weir opened a studio and was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1829. As Professor of Drawing at the United States Military Academy beginning in 1834, his students included Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Seth Eastman and James Abbott McNeill Whistler. His 1836 mural in the West Point chapel, Peace and War, may have helped secure the artist’s commission to paint a large mural for one of the four blank panels in the Capitol rotunda. That work, Embarkation of the Pilgrims, was completed in the summer of 1843 and installed in the Capitol in December of that year. From 1843 to 1876, Weir was active as a painter of landscape art in the Hudson River style (Church of the Holy Innocents, Highland Falls, West Point); as a portraitist (Robert E. Lee and General Winfield Scott); as a history painter (Landing of Henry Hudson); and as a genre painter (St. Nicholas, the prototype for much of the subsequent Santa Claus iconography). The father of the artists John Ferguson Weir and Julian Alden Weir, he suffered a severe illness in 1866, slowing the pace of his career. Estimate: $2,000-$4,000.

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(”American Harvesting” View was originally painted by Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900) in 1851.) A number of Hudson River School artists depicted this View with slight variations. Partial AskArt Bio: A landscape, portrait, marine and history painter, Edmund C. Coates lived in New York City during his active period 1837-1872. Brooklyn and New York City directories from those years list him as Edward, Edmund C., E.C. Coates, and E.G. Coates. His paintings include landscapes of Canada and Italy although it is not known if the artist traveled to those countries or if other works inspired the scenes. He also painted in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and, listed as one of the Hudson River School painters, did numerous Hudson River Valley scenes such as Shipping on the Hudson River, 1855. His painting titled Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh, 1867, depicted a popular scene among the Hudson River painters because it was George Washington's headquarters painted against the backdrop of Storm Mountain near the town of Newburgh. (See Auction Lot #55 Washington’s Headquarters) Collections holding work by Coates include the New York Historical Society, the New York State Historical Association and the Shelburne Museum. Sources include: A Century of American Landscapes 1812-1912, Frank S. Schwarz and Son, Philadelphia, 1986 Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art John Howat, The Hudson River and Its Painters Top Auction Record: $40,250. Estimate: $6,000 - $12,000.

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Note: There is a small raised bubble imperfection in sky. Measures: Sight: 11x14.5”. Overall 17x22”. AskArt Bio: A landscape and scenery painter and book illustrator, Granville Perkins was born October 16, 1830 in Baltimore, Maryland. At age fifteen, he became a scene painter for elaborate theatre productions, working with the Ravel family on plays such as "Mazulua, "The Green Monster" and "Jacko or the Brazilian Ape". His first formal studies were in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art under American landscape painter and etcher, James Hamilton (1819-1898) (See lot 62.) He also took drawing lessons from William E. Smith. It was during these studies that he first started exhibiting at the Academy. In 1856, Perkins exhibited his first painting, #306 "Cape Croix, Cuba" that reflected his five year-long travels with the Ravels from 1851 to 1856. They visited Cuba, Jamaica, Yucatan and Central America. In 1856, he returned to Philadelphia and again studied with James Hamilton, by 1860, moving to New York City, he had a reputation for his skills with coastal and tropical landscapes. In New York, he worked as an illustrator for Harper & Bros. in Franklin Square and for "Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper". While working at Harper & Bros., he continued his art studies and was invited to exhibit at the National Academy of Design. Perkins became a frequent exhibitor at the National Academy of Design between 1862 to 1883. About 1870, Granville Perkins went to California from New York, and traveled south by ship around Cape Horn. Before this, his Latin American paintings had primarily been of Cuba, but during the 1870s and 1880s, they were mainly of South American tropical landscapes. As an accomplished watercolorist, Granville Perkins became a member of the New York Watercolor Society. He exhibited his watercolors at the National Academy of Design and at the Chicago Art Institute in 1889 and 1894. Top Auction Record: $14,300. Estimate: $2,000-$4000.

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Note: Seller believes that this is a "A View from Moodna Creek" (Murderer’s Creek) looking east at Pollepel Island with the Fishkill Mountains (Highlands) beyond. Armstrong was born on the family homestead located on Danskammer Point on the Hudson River. This painting View was close to his home. A reprint of David’s book “Day Before Yesterday, Reminisces of a Varied Life” shall accompany this painting to the buyer. Edited by his daughter, Margaret Armstrong, it was originally published in 1920 two years after his death. Partial AskArt Bio: Known primarily for his stained glass work, David Armstrong was also a painter whose main studio was in New York City. He trained as a lawyer, and in 1862 was admitted to the bar but soon changed from that career to the profession of art. From 1869 to 1872, he was American Consulat at Rome, and in 1878 was director of the American section of the Art Department at the Paris Expo for which he received the Legion of Honor. Source: Groce & Wallace, Dictionary of Artists in America Peter Hastings Falk (Editor), Who Was Who in American Art Top Auction Sales Record: $5,463. Estimate: $3,000-$6,000.

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Partial AskArt Bio: Also known as Gunther Hartwick (dates unknown), the artist was active between 1847 and 1869. Hartwick carried on the landscape traditions of the seventeenth-century Dutch, George Henry Durrie and Thomas Birch. He was in New Haven, Connecticut in the 1840s. Outstanding compositions, contrasting textures and considerable animation distinguish his works. He achieved a great, powdery softness when brushing in areas of fallen snow on trees. He exhibited two landscapes in the American Art-Union in 1849. Hartwick's canvases may be found in the following institutions: the Chicago Historical Society, the Western Reserve Historical Society, and the Malden (MA) Public Library, but most are in private collections. Source: Groce and Wallace, 1957, p. 298. Top Auction Record: $14,400.00 Estimate: $6,000-$12,000.

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Framed 19thC American School, round “View of Cornwall on Hudson.” Oil on canvas. Sight: 11.5x11.5”. Overall: 17x17”. Estimate: $2,000-$4,000.

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Partial AskArt Bio: He began to exhibit at the National Academy of Design between 1844 and 1845. As his career began to pick up around 1853, he completed his first book illustration assignment for G. P. Putnam and Company's, "Homes of American Authors." Such illustrated weeklies as Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper also began to carry his illustrations. From 1851 to 1862 Miller worked out of his home at 1 Perry Street and from 1868 to 1877 he lived in his studio in the Dodworth Building at 806 Broadway. Magazine assignments began to decline toward the latter part of the 1860s and Miller considered dropping his career and joining the M. Knoedler Company (once Goupil). However, his career as an artist was saved through the patronage of Henry W. Gear, an artists' supplier, George M. Wing, an agent, and John L. Chambers, a secretary. Around 1873 he spent years organizing a book on American landscapes that he titled "A Thousand Gems," but it was never published. However the drawings provided much of the material for is later work in oil. He was a disciplined worker and prolific painter who produced hundreds of watercolors, oils, and pen and ink sketches. His work can be found in the collection of the New York Historical Society. Source: "American Landscape and Genre Paintings in the New York Historical Society" Top Auction Record: $46,750.00 Estimate: $15,000-$25,000.

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Early 19thC American School, Possible View of Troy or Albany, NY on the Hudson River. Framed oil on canvas. Relined conservation. Sight: 18.25x26.25. Overall: 25x33”. Estimate: $3,000-$5,000.

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The View witnesses a hay wagon at "Southgate” of the Hudson River having Anthony’s Nose Mountain on the left and Dunderberg Mountain on the right. This is the current location of the Bear Mountain bridge crossing. Sight: 21.25x35.25”. Overall 31x45”. Partial AskArt Bio for Edward Nichols: Edward Nichols, born and raised in Oxford, New Hampshire on the Connecticut River, first studied as a lawyer, but by the age of 30 had abandoned that career to study art at the Academy of Design* under the Hudson River School* artist and architect, Jasper Cropsey. Nichols "had come to believe that art---encompassing not just painting, but also furnishings, architecture, and landscape---had the power to shape and improve people and society." He married Maria Wilkinson from a highly cultured, prosperous family. Her father, Edward Watkinson, was a successful Hartford, Connecticut merchant and iron trader, and her mother, Lavina Hudson, owned the well-known Hartford newspaper, Courant. Maria was quite worldly for her era, having been a volunteer teacher in missionary schools in Beirut and Constantinople. Marrying into this family, Edward Nichols not only gained a highly cultured companion but likely gained the financial support he needed to fulfill his artistic ambitions. Edward and Maria spent two years, 1853 to 1855, honeymooning in Europe and England, where he did much sketching of architecture and landscape. They also spent much time in museums. In 1854, they had their only child, Edward Leamkngton Nichols, and shortly after returned to America, taking up residence in New York City. It was a time when Hudson River School painting flourished, and Nichols ability to paint in accord with its tenets of reverence for nature and celebration of wilderness landscape led to much appreciation of his work. He had a studio in the exclusive Tenth Street Studio Building*, a two-story exhibition gallery and studio facility. It had gaslights, skylights and much camaraderie as it was "the headquarters of the Hudson River School of painting." By 1853 Nichols was exhibiting at the National Academy of Design in New York City, and in 1859 was made an Associate Academician of the Academy. The titles of many of the paintings he exhibited at the N.A.D. provided great insight as to where and what he painted during these years. In the 1850's he was painting in Connecticut and north along the Connecticut River as far as the White Mountains* of New Hampshire. By the mid 1860's the artist moved from Hartford, Connecticut to Peekskill, New York, about 45 miles north of Manhattan, where his subject matter was of the Hudson River Valley, from Peekskill and its surrounding Hudson Highlands north to the Catskill Mountains. Other works of the Rhine Valley in Germany and of the Gulf of Mexico were listed, but it is not known whether they were done first hand or through secondary materials. During the Civil War, his paintings took on a sombre tone reflecting the seriousness of the time, but when the war ended he returned to familiar haunts. He sold property that he had purchased in New Jersey, and he and his family moved to Peekskill, New York where he died in 1871. Some of the museums his works can be found in include the Mattatuck Historical Society of Waterbury, Connecticut, the North Hampton Historical Society, North Hampton, Massachusetts, and Historic Cherry Hill of Albany, New York. Sources: Ann Y. Smith, "Edward W. Nichols and the Image of an Ideal America", Fine Art Connoisseur, June, 2010, pp. 30-35. Alexander Boyle, who was featured on the television show "America's First River, Bill Moyers on the Hudson". Boyle worked with the Metropolitan Museum of Art as the Assistant Director of a film, "American Paradise, the World of the Hudson River School" and from 1988 to 2001 was Vice-President of Godel & Co. Fine Art in New York. Nichols Auction Record: $20,000. Estimate: $3,000-$6,000.

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Sight: 19.25x27.25”. Overall 24x32”. Estimate: $4,000-$7,000.

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Framed 19thC American School View of Kosciuzko’s Monument West Point. Sight: 20.5x29”. Overall: 25.5x34”. Estimate: $6,000-$8,000.

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Partial AskArt Bio: Known for street scene paintings and etchings of New York City as well as coastal marine views on both sides of the Long Island Sound, Frederick Hunter lived at Ossining, Cold Spring on Hudson, New York. Exhibition venues included the National Academy of Design, 1881-86; Brooklyn Art Association, 1881-86; and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1881-82, 1884. Source: Peter Hastings Falk, Editor, Who Was Who in American Art Sight: 17x25”. Overall: 25.5x33.5”. Estimate $2,000-$4,000.

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Partial AskArt Bio: Cyrus Cobb was born in Malden, Massachusetts (1834). He was the twin brother of the painter, Darius Cobb, the twins worked together in Boston from the mid-1850's painting portraits and collaborated on large historical and religious paintings. From 1869 to 1879, Cyrus also studied and practiced law in Boston. He gave up law and returned to art, achieving considerable fame as a sculptor. He was also a musician and was active in musical and literary circles in Boston. Source: Groce and Wallace "The New York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in America" Estimate: $4,000-$8,000.

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The Francis Skiddy was launched on the Hudson in 1852 and was in service until 1864. Link to more information: https://www.hrmm.org/history-blog/steamer-francis-skiddy-1852-1864 Sight: 21.5x35.5”. Overall: 30x44” Estimate: $4,000-$7,000.

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Note: The figures on the cliff appear to be African/American compared to figures in his other paintings, including Lot # 24 in this auction. Partial AskArt Bio: ANDREW W. MELROSE (1836-1901) A little known yet prolific landscape painter, Andrew Melrose was born in Selkirk, Scotland in 1836. There are few records of his activities before the War Between the States, but he is thought to have emigrated to the United States in 1856. Following a brief stay in this country, he spent some time in Toronto, Canada, where he married Margaret Grice in 1858. The couple lived in New York City for a few years, then settled permanently in Hudson County, New Jersey, residing successively in West Hoboken, Guttenberg and West New York. Melrose is not known to have studied with any professional artist, so he is presumed to have been self-taught. Many of his best-known works are views of New York, including New York City and the Hudson River Valley, typically rendered in the romantic-realist style of the Hudson River School. Melrose's search for inspiring subjects also took him to various areas of the southern and western United States, and possibly to the British Isles and Austria. He painted a few South American and Cuban scenes as well, leading some sources to suggest he traveled there, though he seems never to have actually made the trip. Instead, he appears to have been inspired by Frederic Church's imagery, as opposed to first-hand experience. Melrose's large and ambitious South American scene, "Morning in the Andes" (1870, Newark Museum of Art, Newark, New Jersey), clearly stems from Church's Heart of the Andes. Melrose's career has not been thoroughly studied, and so the method he used for composing his pictures is presently unknown. Many small paintings, like those discussed here, have a bright, almost pastel coloration, and are delicately and loosely brushed. Their size, usually 12 x 16 inches, suggests they may have been painted "en plein air". If the format had pleased the artist or patron, either at the time of execution or even years later, the small work might become the basis for a large, finished oil. On the other hand, the small pictures may have been indoor products, composed in the studio from pencil sketches made in the field, then used in various combinations in larger, more detailed compositions. Melrose was never a major figure in the art world, but he was well respected and seems to have enjoyed the patronage of several important clients. One of these, a Mr. L. Becker of Union City, commissioned Melrose to paint a large picture entitled "The Valley of the Hackensack from the Estate of L. Becker, Esq., Union City, New Jersey" (Newark Art Museum, Newark, New Jersey) for each of his four children. One version of the painting, which is also known as "View of the Hackensack Valley", is in the collection of the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark. The two remaining versions are unlocated (American Art in the Newark Museum, p. 352). Melrose exhibited landscapes and genre pictures at the National Academy of Design from 1868 through 1883. He also exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association. In 1885, he produced what is perhaps his best known work, "New York Harbor and the Battery, NYC" (The New-York Historical Society, New York City). Replete with figures and anecdotal detail, this pleasant, light-filled picture shows a corner of Battery Park and New York Harbor at the mouth of the Hudson River. In the left distance stands the Statue of Liberty, unveiled on October 28, 1886, the gift to America from the French to commemorate the shared ideal of liberty born of revolution. A similar undated version by Melrose of the same subject, but differing in composition from the Society's version, was in the collection of Ambassador and Mrs. J. William Middendorf II of New York in 1967. It was given to the White House in 1973 by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Segel. At some point in the mid-1880s, Melrose produced a chromolithograph based on the Middendorfs' version of the same subject (American Paintings and Historical Prints from the Middendorf Collection, p. 50). Many of Melrose's paintings were published as etchings or lithographs. He is also said to have illustrated books (Seibels, 1990). Melrose rarely dated his works, so it is difficult to trace his career after the mid-1880s, when he stopped exhibiting at the NAD. References: "American Art in the Newark Museum: Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture. Newark, New Jersey: The Newark Museum, 1981". "Decade Review of American Artists at Auction" 1/86-1/96. Mansfield, Ohio: Franklin & James Publishing, 1996. Kloss, William, et al. "Art in the White House: A Nation's Pride. Washington, D.C.": White House Historical Association, 1992. Koke, Richard J. "American Landscapes and Genre Paintings in the New York-Historical Society, Vol. II. New York: The New-York Historical Society, 1982. Seibels, Cynthia. "An Early Morning on the Ashley River, Going to Market". Spartanburg, South Carolina: Robert M. Hicklin Jr., Inc., 1990. Weiseman, Marjorie E., Curator of Western Art Before 1850, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, letter to author, 26 August 1999. According to Ms. Weiseman, two paintings by Melrose were bequeathed to Oberlin College by a patron, Charles F. Olney, in 1904. Both paintings, "Tellulah Chasm, Georgia" (41 3 x 23 inches) and "Waterfall in Nevada" (42 x 42 inches), were acquired by the donor before 1887. The pair was deaccessioned in 1953. Auction Record: $102,000. Estimate $3,000-$6,000.

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19thC American School signed Mary E. Barr framed watercolor painting of “Verplanck Landing Dock” on the Hudson river. 19thC Women landscape artists are quite rare. See old catalog label on back for details.

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Link More Information: https://www.artfixdaily.com/blogs/post/5772-the-painter-of-peekskill Sight: 17x31”. Overall: 25”x39. Partial AskArt Bio: A lesser-known landscape painter of the Hudson River Valley in the 1860s, 70s, and 80s, Frank Anderson lived in Peekskill, New York. He exhibited his work at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design of New York, but was extremely shy about being involved in public events. He was a native of Ohio where his father was an inventor, and he, with similar interests, was credited with designing improvements to the telegraph. By the time he was twenty, he was sketching and painting. Frank Anderson, the artist, died at his home, in Peek skill after a brief illness from congestion of the brain. He was born in Mount Sterling, Ohio, in 1844, and had been a prominent resident of Peekskill since 1863. He has long been known as a contributor to the Academy of Design exhibition of paintings. Source: Peter Hastings Falk (ed.), Who Was Who in American Art Auction Record: $185,000. Estimate: $25,000-$50,000.