(American, 1823-1880) Istanbul, Golden Horn, inscribed lower left 'Stamboul-Golden Horn', bears facsimile backing verso 'This sketch book was given to Richard Butler by the heirs of SR Gifford/January 15, 1881', pencil on gray paper, sheet 4-3/4 x 8-1/2 in.; gilt wood frame, 10-3/4 x 14-1/2 in. Provenance: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, NY (label verso); The Collection of Clare and Jared Edwards, West Hartford, Connecticut
Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880) was an American landscape painter associated with the Hudson River School, a prominent group of 19th-century American landscape painters known for their romantic and detailed depictions of the American landscape. Gifford's work contributed significantly to the development of American landscape painting during the mid-19th century.Here are some key points about Sanford Robinson Gifford:1. **Hudson River School**: Gifford was a part of the second generation of Hudson River School painters. He was inspired by the earlier works of artists like Thomas Cole and Asher Durand, who founded the movement.2. **Landscape Foc**: Gifford's primary foc was on landscapes, and he was known for his ability to capture the natural beauty and grandeur of the American wilderness. His works often featured majestic mountain vistas, serene lakes, and dramatic lighting effects.3. **Influence of Europe**: Gifford traveled to Europe in the mid-1850s, where he was exposed to European landscape painting traditions. His European experiences influenced his style and approach to landscape painting, incorporating elements of the Barbizon School and luminism into his work.4. **Light and Atmosphere**: Gifford was skilled at portraying the effects of light and atmosphere in his landscapes. His e of color and lumino effects added depth and drama to his compositions.5. **Exploration of the American West**: Like many of his Hudson River School contemporaries, Gifford was inspired by the idea of Manifest Destiny and the exploration of the American West. He created several works inspired by the American frontier and the idea of westward expansion.6. **Artistic Legacy**: Gifford's works are part of major meum collections, and he is considered one of the important figures in American landscape painting of the 19th century. His contributions to the Hudson River School movement and his portrayal of the American landscape continue to be admired and studied by art enthiasts and scholars.Sanford Robinson Gifford's paintings are celebrated for their meticulo detail, lumino quality, and their role in shaping the American perception of the country's natural beauty during a time of westward expansion and exploration. His landscapes remain valuable contributions to American art history. Measures 21 x 30.
Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880) was an American landscape painter associated with the Hudson River School, a 19th-century American art movement that celebrated the natural beauty of the American landscape. Gifford is known for his detailed and luminous landscape paintings that capture the grandeur of nature.Key points about Sanford Robinson Gifford:1. **Early Life and Education**: Gifford was born in Greenfield, New York, and developed an early interest in art. He received formal training in art at Brown University and continued his studies in New York City.2. **Hudson River School**: Gifford was a key figure in the Hudson River School, a group of American artists who sought to depict the sublime and picturesque aspects of the American landscape. The movement was characterized by detailed, realistic renderings of nature.3. **Influence of the Hudson River Valley**: Gifford's work often focused on the landscapes of the Hudson River Valley, including the Catskill and Adirondack Mountains. He was deeply influenced by the region's natural beauty and its significance to American identity.4. **Luminist Style**: Gifford's style is often associated with Luminism, a variation of the Hudson River School that emphasized the effects of light and atmosphere in painting. His work is characterized by the use of soft, glowing light and precise rendering of details.5. **Travel and Exploration**: Gifford traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe, seeking inspiration from various landscapes. He explored regions such as the American West and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.6. **Exhibitions and Recognition**: Gifford's work was exhibited at prominent exhibitions, including the National Academy of Design and the Brooklyn Art Association. He received awards and recognition for his contributions to American art.7. **Legacy**: Sanford Robinson Gifford's landscape paintings continue to be celebrated for their meticulous attention to detail, their luminous quality, and their ability to capture the grandeur of the American wilderness. His work played a significant role in the development of American landscape painting.Gifford's dedication to depicting the natural beauty of the American landscape, with an emphasis on light and atmosphere, contributed to the broader cultural appreciation of the country's wilderness during the 19th century. His paintings are recognized for their role in the development of American art and continue to be admired for their exquisite rendering of the American wilderness. Measures 21 x 30.
Antique American signed Hudson River School landscape oil painting by Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823 - 1880). Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Please see all images for condition. Size is measured and written on the back of the painting. The first size is the overall size, the second size is the image size. For detailed condition questions please text 617-835-2496.
POSSIBLY SANFORD ROBINSON GIFFORD (1823-1880) "LANDSCAPE". American (New York), mid 19th Century. Oil on canvas. Landscape with mountains and body of water. Signed on lower left. Craquelure with a few flakes, edge wear and losses including at the signature. 19.25"h. 30.5"w. (sight). Frame 27"h. 38.5"w.
The Hudson River School in Focus: Property from the Friedman Collection Sanford Robinson Gifford 1823 - 1880 Derwentwater oil on canvas 10 ½ by 20 in. 26.6 by 50.8 cm. Executed circa 1855. We are grateful to Dr. Ila Weiss, the leading Sanford Robinson Gifford scholar, for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.
The Hudson River School in Focus: Property from the Friedman Collection Sanford Robinson Gifford 1823 - 1880 A Foggy Autumn Morning in the Mountains, A Sketch oil on canvas 10 by 7 ¼ in. 25.4 by 18.4 cm. We are grateful to Dr. Ila Weiss, the leading Sanford Robinson Gifford scholar, for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Gifford, S.R. (1823-1880) Painting. Oil on canvas - signed lower right dated 1863. Panoramic landscape painting depicting snow capped mountains surrounding a still riverside. Canvas measures 8x18 framed to overall size of 10x20. Sanford Robinson Gifford was an American landscape painter and a leading member of the second generation of Hudson River School artists. A highly-regarded practitioner of Luminism, his work was noted for its emphasis on light and soft atmospheric effects. Condition: Fine
Property from the Estate of Suzanne and Stanley S. Arkin Sanford Robinson Gifford 1823 - 1880 The Falls of Tivoli signed S.R. Gifford and dated '69 (lower right) oil on canvas 7 ¾ by 13 ½ in. 19.7 by 34.3 cm. Executed in 1869. We are grateful to Dr. Ila Weiss, the leading Sanford Robinson Gifford scholar, for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.
(American, 1823-1880) Wilderness Sketch, unsigned, oil on board, 5-5/8 x 9-1/8 in.; unframed Provenance: Private Collection, Rhode Island Note: This lot is accompanied by an extensive letter from Dr. Ila Weiss. It discusses the possibility of this being a related sketch to Gifford's The Wilderness of 1860, but acknowledges the problematic restoration and consequent obfuscation of much of the sketch. The letter is attached herein.
(American, 1823-1880) A Sketch From Nature, circa 1849-50, unsigned, inscribed pencil verso "Sanford R. Gifford (Hudsonian School) / Present from Mrs. Robert Wilkinson (nee Cornelia Maurice) Poughkeepsie, N.Y.", oil on paper, 10-5/8 x 14-3/4 in.; period carved gilt wood frame, 16 x 20-1/4 in. Provenance: American Art Union, 1849, as A Sketch from Nature, sold to Miss Clara Gilmartin; (Possibly) Mrs. Robert Wilkinson (nee Cornelia Maurice) Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Private Collection, Jekyll Island, Georgia; Private Collection, Cabot, Vermont; Driscoll Babcock Galleries, New York, New York (label verso); Shannon's Fine Art Auction, April 29, 2021, purchased for $30,000; Private Collection, Rhode Island Note: This lot is accompanied by a letter of authentication from Dr. Ila Weiss, the recognized authority on Sanford Gifford. The letter discuses this work in detail as a well documented, important early work by the master. The lot is also accompanied by a similar letter of authentication from Kevin Avery. Note: This painting is #17 in the Gifford Memorial Catalog: The Memorial Collection of the Works of the late Sanford R. Gifford by Weir, John Ferguson), 1841-1926 (Contributor), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15324coll10/id/9460
Property from a Bluffton, SC Private Collection Description: Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823-1880) , Hudson River Scenery, Oil on Canvas on Board, signed 'S. R. Gifford, 1858', lower right corner, framed: 22 in. x 31 3/8 in. Provenance: Inherited in the mid 1940's from a American art collector in NJ, then by descent to current owner. We wish to thank Dr. Ila Weiss, the leading Sanford Robinson Gifford scholar, for preparing the following essay which accompanies the lot: "It was a surprise and especially delightful for me to encounter this painting as I have been intimately familiar with a half size oil study for it for many years and had no idea until now that it existed. A comparison of both versions of this landscape not only firmly identifies the artist, but provides a vivid example of GiffordÕs typical development of a concept. It also raises the question of the identification of the subject, as the oil on paper, mounted on canvas study, 5 _ by 10 _ inches (stretcher), bears a Gifford Sale stamp on the verso that points to its identification as #54 in the Catalogue Part II of the Gifford Collection (New York: Thomas E. Kirby, Auctioneers, 1881), where it is titled, ÒHudson River Scenery.Ó [Color Plate 7 in my book, Poetic Landscape: The Art and Experience of Sanford R. Gifford (1987).] The oil study was initialed ÒS R GÓ in the lower right, probably by GiffordÕs close friend, the artist Jervis McEntee, who completed sketches remaining in GiffordÕs studio after his death for the Gifford estate sale. No other Sale Catalogue listing is possible for this work. In the Gifford Memorial Catalogue (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1881) the smaller version is given as #472, ÒA Sketch of Hudson River Scenery.Ó None of its listings may be identified with the larger painting: it was evidently not known at the time of GiffordÕs death. To pursue the frame title, I have thoroughly searched all the known drawings and paintings by Gifford of Lake George subjects and find nothing that can be connected to your painting. It is likely that at the time of framing the view reminded its owner of Lake George scenery; but it is also conceivable that there was documentation of that title at that time, now lostÑperhaps an inscription on the canvas verso by the artist, not recorded in relining. (It may be possible to reveal such an inscription by x ray photography; you may want to pursue this with a restorer.) The Hudson River identification of the smaller version would probably have been made by McEntee, possibly based on his familiarity with the scenery or even knowledge of the circumstances of the paintingÕs creation. Gifford usually began with pencil drawings of a view, especially its distance, sometimes along with foreground elements and ideas for compositions, but none have been found preliminary to these paintings. There may have been other small oil sketches and studies, also lost. The smaller oil study establishes all the main elements of the view in your painting. Two mountains occupy the distance beyond water, veiled in luminous haze. Their intersection, left of center, is accented by a far-foreground tree, its droopy form often seen in Gifford paintings of this period. Adjacent woods extend to the left edge. A more distant wooded land mass, probably an island or possibly a peninsula, just right of center, is offset by a grayed-white sail with adjacent red and white dots indicating figures. All are picturesquely doubled in reflection. A right-foreground shoreline, edged in marshy grass (which may have signaled the Hudson), completes the studyÕs composition. Subtle changes in developing the idea, typical of Gifford, reveal his thinking. The larger version, slightly less panoramic in format, somewhat enlarges areas of sky, mountains, foreground and water, and, with adjustments of tone increases the aereality of the distance to provide an effect of greater expanse and depth, implying taller, more imposing mountains. Refinements of the mountain contours add further interest to the distance. Both versions contain the sailboat with its figures and a farmhouse at the edge of the water in the right middle-distanceÑboth clarified in the larger paintingÑthat define the contemporary moment. Two changes in the larger work are significant: a rock in the foreground of the study is replaced by the figure of a woman carrying a basket, dressed in a white top, blue belt, red skirt and yellow head covering, walking with a black and white spotted dog on a path toward the house. The same dog climbed Mount Mansfield with Gifford and fellow campers that summer, as recorded in paintÑprobably the artistÕs own pet. Several paintings by Gifford dating from the mid-Fifties to the early-Sixties have comparable figures. Closest to that in your painting appears on a riverside path in a view of Windsor Castle: a woman carrying a basket and wearing a yellow head covering, white top and red skirt. Also, in the left middle distance of your painting three cows are introduced, reddish-brown, white, and gray-tan, sculpted by sunlight against the dark woods, posing in three different positions while grazing in the reflective water. Similar cows in water appear in quite a few paintings by Gifford during this period. The figure and the cows not only add pops of color lacking in the smaller study; they underscore the idea of a semi-domesticated American wilderness. The most significant change between the study and your developed image is the effect of warmly tinted aerial-luminosity, a Gifford stylistic hallmark. The oil study has a cool, subdued greenÐblue unity, with dark greens, near-blacks, and olives in the nearest woods and a cooler middle distance. Its distant mountains are grayed blueÐgreen in shadows, with warmer grayed-olive highlights suggesting their veiled forms. In this smaller version the deep pink of near-sunset light is concentrated at the horizon toward the left, whereas in your painting the warmth of the sky is diffused almost to the top edge where it stains more prominent clouds reaching across the breadth of the painting, sounding the color keynote. Such a late afternoon effect of tinted air, established with adjusted tonal contrast, warmer colors and pink glazing, frequently characterizes GiffordÕs work of this period. The left farÐforeground trees are now lighter in tone and warmer in hue than in the oil study, brown to olive-green with pale yellow-olive, with visually enticing yellow-white highlights striking tree trunks and limbs, and warm light illuminating yellowish birch leavesÑa Gifford hallmark, strikingly developed in the Metropolitan MuseumÕs Kauterskill Clove in the Catskills of 1862. As transformed by the pink haze, the right middle-distance is now constructed of lighter olives and gray browns; the mountain distance, a pale mix of cool gray and pink, is half lost in the colored light. The veiling effect of warm, late afternoon light suffusing the landscape not only unifies the image but conveys sentiment: the artistÕs deep affection for characteristic American scenery on return home from his first trip abroad of 1855Ð1857. As to the title, neither Lake George nor Hudson River Scenery is secure, but I prefer the latter which was determined by someone close to the artist during his lifetime and publishedÑunless an inscription in the artistÕs hand or other firm evidence to the contrary can be documented." Sanford Robinson Gifford was an American painter and prominent member of the second generation of the Hudson River School artists. Gifford attended Brown University, though he never graduated, before moving to New York City to study painting under John Rubens Smith. He was initially trained as a portraitist, but quickly turned to his preferred subject of landscape painting. He first exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1847 and became a member in 1850. Travels across Europe allowed Gifford to study and copy from the master's whose works he had long admired, most notably that of JMW Turner. His mastery of soft atmospheric effects and emphasis on light made him one of the most highly regarded Luminists. Gifford's work can now be found in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of art and many more, as well as in various other public institutions and private collections. Measurements: Height: of board 10 3/4 in. x Width: 19 15/16 in. Condition: Good restored condition, please email us, info@everard.com for a link to high resolution image gallery, the original canvas trimmed to the outer edges of the painting and wax lined to an aluminum honeycomb board. Original canvas measures 10 1/2 in x 19 7/8 in. but has been extended to 10 3/4 in. x 19 15/16 in. with inpainting. Signature and date are faint (please see photos, we have enhanced 2nd photo of signature to make it legible), craquelure throughout, inpainting particularly to sky, outer edges and scattered other areas, see blacklight photo. Restoration originally done by well regarded paintings conservator Bernard Rabin (1916-2003) in 1972 and Sidney Mickelson, Mickelson's Inc., Washington D.C. in 1997. Frame with small losses and age cracks throughout. Notice to bidders: The absence of a condition report does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections, or the conditions of aging. Complete condition reports are available by request, no later than 24 hours prior to the live auction. All lots are offered and sold 'as is', and Everard Auctions will not provide refunds based on condition. Timepiece movements, lighting and electrics have not been tested, and art has not been examined out of the frame unless otherwise stated. We do not guarantee the condition of frames. By placing a bid, either in person, by phone, absentee or via the Internet, you signify that you agree to be bound by the conditions of sale. Everard Auctions does not provide any shipping or packing services. We recommend that all potential buyers obtain pack/ship estimates prior to bidding. Please contact us for a list of recommended shippers.
Sanford Robinson Gifford American, 1823-1880 A View of a Classical Landscape with Ruins Signed S R Gifford (lr) Oil on canvas 9 7/8 x 14 1/8 inches Provenance: Doyle, New York, Dec. 4, 1997, lot 110 C Property from a Distinguished New York Collection
Sanford Robinson Gifford American, 1823-1880 View Near Hudson, New York, 1853 Initialed SR... and dated 1853 (lr) Oil on canvas 14 1/4 x 12 3/8 inches This work is accompanied by a letter from Dr. Ila Weiss, wherein she explains that the work is derived from a sketch dated Oct. 10th in a sketchbook from 1851. She posits that the work was started in 1851 and completed in 1853. C Property from a Distinguished New York Collection
SANFORD ROBINSON GIFFORD Massachusetts/New York, 1823-1880 Two pencil studies titled "Twilight in Catskills Clove", 1860. Unsigned. With a handwritten letter from the artist to fellow artist William Mason Brown.
Sanford Robinson Gifford, American (1823-1880). Painting, Oil on Canvas "Boat Scene". Signed Lower Right and Framed. Condition: Generally Very Good with Some Crazing. Dimension: Sight- 13.5" x 8.25", Frame- 16.5" x 11". Provenance: From a Long Island, NY Home. Please note the absence of a condition report does not imply that there are no condition issues with this lot. Please contact us for a detailed condition report.
Clay Bluffs on No Man's Land (sketch) Oil on canvas With red estate stamp "S. R. GIFFORD / SALE" on verso, partial paper label "Clay ____ Man's Land", and old attribution "Artist: Sanford Gifford" on stretcher h. 9 in w. 16 1/2 in. overall: 19 x 26-1/2 in. (framed) n.b. Not all items are on display in our saleroom. If you wish to see a specific item in-person we ask that you contact us before attending our preview. Additional high-resolution photos of this lot are available here.
Luminist Mountain Valley Landscape, with Two Figures at River's Edge, oil on canvas, unsigned, housed in what appears to be the original gilt gesso frame, OS: 10 1/2" x 15", SS: 5 3/4" x 10 1/2", good condition.
A beautiful oil on canvas painting of Hudson Haverstraw Bay, attributed to Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823 - 1880). S. R. Gifford was known as American landscape painter and a member of the Hudson River School. This is a nicely varnished oil painting, depicting Hudson river landscape scene with father and son fishing while a little sailing boat passes. Signed in the lower-left corner. Titled and dated on the verso "Hudson Haverstraw Bay. S.R. Gifford 1858". Mounted within gold gilt wood frame. Age-related wear to wood frame, canvas itself is in excellent commensurate with age condition. Artist: Attributed to Sanford Robinson Giiford Condition: Excellent. Created: 1857-1858 Frame: Wood. Medium: Oil on canvas. Signature: S.R. Gifford 1857 lower left Title: Hudson Haverstraw Bay Work Size: 19 - 1/2" x 23 - 1/2". Condition: (Excellent). Dimensions: Frame: 24 - 3/4" x 28 - 3/4".
Landscape with Cabin, oil on wood panel, 12 x 20 in (30.5 x 50.8 cm), framed 17 1/2 x 25 1/2 in (44.5 x 64.8 cm) , signed lower left, dated 1869, PROVENANCE: Private collection Mamaroneck, New York
Manchester Beach, oil on wood panel, 7 x 15 in (17.8 x 38 cm), framed 13 x 21 in (33 x 53.3 cm), , signed lower left, PROVENANCE: Private collection Brooklyn , NY
Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823-1880) Venice, circa 1869-80 Oil on canvas 8-1/4 x 15-1/2 inches (21.0 x 39.4 cm) PROVENANCE: Mildred H. McKinley, Wheeling, West Virginia; Estate of the above. According to Dr. Ila Weiss, in a letter dated June 6, 2014, which accompanies the present work: "Thank you for requesting for my opinion of the 8 1/4- by 15 1/2-inch oil on canvas painting of colorful sailboats in the Lagoon with the shoreline of Venice in the distance, and for giving me the opportunity of examining the painting in person. This is one of Sanford R. Gifford's numerous paintings in the vicinity of Venice: he did more than the 36 listed in the Gifford Memorial Catalogue [Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1881]. "Gifford had spent twelve days in Venice in July 1857, preoccupied with the study of its art and architecture. When he returned in June 1869 he was overwhelmed by the city's possibilities as a subject for his own evolved chromo-luminist imagery. In a sketchbook [inscribed, 'given to Richard Butler by the heirs of S R Gifford Jany 25th 1881,' disassembled by Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York, in 1976 and sold as individual drawings] and a few oil sketches, he studied the compositional elements used for all his subsequent paintings: the skyline of the city seen from the Lagoon; islands on the horizon in the Lagoon, fishing boats with colorful sails in nearby waters, and such landmarks as Santa Maria Della Salute, San Giorgio, and the Campanile of the Piazza San Marco. He later told his friend Prof. John F. Weir that he did not do very much in Venice, 'but what I did do took, for the most part, pictorial shapes, and was therefore effective.' [S. R. Gifford to John F. Weir, May 6, 1875, Yale University] From Venice he wrote, 'The richly colored sails of the Venetian and Chioggian fishing boats have interested me a good deal from the striking contrasts of color they afford with the sky and water. There is also a curious variety of quaint design in them.' [Letter to his father of July 17, 1869, European Letters 3:130, Archives of American Art] Apparently for the first time, he acquired colored pencils to record their remarkable designs in his sketchbook. Of the several sails he sketched, two are prominent in the drawings and paintings, including the cross and orb, symbolizing Christian dominion, featured in your painting. The drawing on which your boat grouping is based, with red penciling added to the sails, contains the same backwards '1869' that appears on your painting's prominent sail. "That sail and the cluster of boats with which it is associated, positioned to the right of center, floating, literally and figuratively, on a luminous field of sky and water, with a recognizable skyline along the horizon, appear in three other of Gifford's known paintings. Another, probably later, version of the concept of your painting was dated 1880 and repainted in black and white for reproduction as an engraving in The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1881-c. 1883), 2:opp. 830), where it is labeled Venice and indexed as 'White Swan of Cities.' As #730 in the Memorial Catalogue it is called 'The White Winged City, a Study in Black and White,' referring to Longfellow's imagery. It is almost the same dimensions as your painting, 8 ½ by 15 ½ inches. It was probably based on a full-colored catalogued version of the same year called Venice, MC 729, also 8 by 15 inches (possibly the painting of that title exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association as #119 in May 1880). However, whereas the Campanile and domes of the Duomo are featured toward the left of your painting's skyline, balancing the boats, in the engraved version the skyline is more informatively extended to the left to include Santa Maria della Salute at the mouth
Manchester Beach, MA, oil on wood panel, 7 x 15 in (17.8 x 38 cm), framed 13 x 21 in (33 x 53.3 cm), , signed lower left, PROVENANCE: Private collection Brooklyn , NY
Carved gilt wood frame, with original plate on front for Sanford R. Gifford 1823-1880. [Outside: 19 3/4" H x 21 3/4" W; Rabbet: 8 7/8" H x 10 3/8" W]. In good condition.
Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823-1880) A Souvenir of the Catskills, Kaaterskill Clove, 1867 Oil on board 7-7/8 x 9-5/8 inches (20.0 x 24.4 cm) Signed and dated lower left: S R G / 67 Titled and inscribed on the reverse: For Miss Buck / A Souvenir of the Catskills PROVENANCE: Salander O'Reilly Gallery, New York; Questroyal Fine Art, LLC, New York; Private collection, East Coast, acquired from the above. We wish to thank noted Gifford scholar Dr. Ila Weiss for providing the following essay. Her letter dated September 29, 2021, accompanies the lot: Thank you for requesting my opinion of Sanford R. Gifford's painted recollection of Kaaterskill Clove in the Catskills, inscribed on the verso, "For Miss Buck / A Souvenir of the Catskills" (oil on paper board, 7 7/8 x 9 5/8 in., initialed and dated '67, lower left), and for providing digital imagery. As the inscription makes clear, this is an imagined view of one of Gifford's favorite subjects, a stretched panorama of the northern Catskills ravine that climbs about 1500 feet from Palenville to Haine's Falls, a distance of about 5 miles. It combines Haines Falls at the head of the Clove, as seen from the ledge of Sunset Rock on South Mountain, its north flank, with Kaaterskill Falls further west on that flank, invisible from Sunset Rock. A favorite subject of the artist, Kaaterskill Clove was easily accessible from Gifford's family home in Hudson, NY. He drew and painted in and around the Clove almost every year, usually in the autumn, as he did in 1867, with the preponderance of this work dating from the early- to mid-1860s. Hudson is almost directly across the Hudson River from the town of Catskill, the river landing for the northern Catskills east of Palenville, where the "father" of the Hudson River School and Gifford's early inspiration, Thomas Cole, lived and had his studio (now a historic site). Worthington Whittredge credited Gifford with opening the scenic Clove to the artists, with tourists following in their wake. [ Gifford Memorial Meeting of the Century (New York: 1880, p. 44.] During the 1820s visitors to the Catskills were primarily interested in the expansive view east across the Hudson Valley to the Berkshires, seen from the Pine Orchard on South Mountain, above Palenville, where the famous Catskill Mountain House was built in 1823–1824 to accommodate them. Younger artists preferred to avoid the crowds, social constraints and expense of this tourist mecca. Beginning in 1846, making use of tannery roads, Gifford found meager accommodations with settlers further inland, first at Brocket's in the Clove, then at the Scribner's Mill family house on Lake Creek, the outlet of South and North Lakes west of the Mountain House, that feeds Kaaterskill Falls. Scribner's was expanded during the 1840s to provide room and board for the artists. Whittredge recalled Gifford's invitation to "the wives and sisters of those present whose culinary gifts he was acquainted with" to join the men and improve the cooking. This in turn attracted so many vacationers that the artists and their friends gradually relocated to the newer Laurel House further downstream at the brink of Kaaterskill Falls that was built in 1852 and greatly expanded during the 1860s, Gifford joining them beginning in 1871. For a fee Laurel House, following Scribners' precedent, controlled the volume of the Falls with a dam as a tourist attraction. Over one hundred Catskills paintings are listed in the Gifford Memorial Catalogue (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1881), based on the artist's lost account books and outreach to known owners at that time. Of these about twelve specify Kaaterskill Clove in their titles (consistently spelled "Kauterskill"), four of them large exhibition pieces (including the Metropolitan Museum of Art's A Gorge in the Moun
Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823-1880) La Riviera Di Ponente, Genoa Oil on canvas 7-1/2 x 11-3/4 inches (19.1 x 29.8 cm) Signed lower left: S.R. Gifford PROVENANCE: Questroyal Fine Art, LLC, New York; Private collection, Old Greenwich, Connecticut. We wish to thank noted Gifford scholar Dr. Ila Weiss for providing the following essay. Her letter dated September 29, 2021, accompanies the lot; I am pleased to provide my opinion, as requested, of Sanford R. Gifford's painting, La Riviera di Ponente, Genoa, oil on canvas, 7½ by 11¾ in., signed lower left, "S R Gifford," based on the digital imagery you kindly provided. Three studies of this subject are listed in the Gifford Memorial Catalogue (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1881, based on Gifford's lost account books and queries of owners). Another painting with the same title was shown at the Boston Athenaeum Annual of 1858 (#112, no dimensions given, owned by Samuel P. Avery). Another preparatory oil study, measuring 9½ by 14 in., inscribed "SRG Rome," was sold at Sotheby's in October 1999. All were probably painted in Rome during the winter of 1856–1857 in preparation for the large 1858 National Academy exhibition piece of the same title, signed "Rome, Jan 1857," 21 by 29 inches, exhibited "for sale" and acquired by Richard Goodman of Lenox, MA, by 1881 (MC 108). Two of the catalogued studies were about 9 by 13 inches (MC 98 and MC 126, the former purchased at the Gifford Estate Sale of 1881 by Gifford's friend Richard Butler; the latter owned in 1881 by William H. Vanderbilt and sold at Parke-Bernet in the Vanderbilt Sale of May 18–19, 1945 (#58) as signed and dated 1858, verso (probably when finished for sale), and measuring 9¼ by 13¼ in. [New York Public Library artist's file]); the third, MC 125, dimensions unknown, was sold to G. M. Vanderlip and lost by 1881. As the Boston Athenaeum painting would have been a larger work, only the latter among catalogued works could have been your painting. The large NAD exhibition piece was sold in Sotheby's Sale of Apr. 29, 1976, lot 29 [reproduced in the University of Texas Sanford Robinson Gifford exhibition catalogue of 1970, #7, p. 22, and in my book, Poetic Landscape: The Art and Experience of Sanford R. Gifford (University of Delaware Press, 1987, p. 193.] On his first trip to Europe, 1855–1857, Gifford arrived in Genoa from Turin on Aug. 30, 1856, and left for Florence five days later. On Sept. 1 he took a short train ride along the coast of the Riviera di Ponente to Pegli to visit the acclaimed gardens of the Villa Durazzo Pallavicini, built by Alessandro Pallavicini in the 1840s. One of the catalogued oil sketches was dated that very day (MC 98). On Mar. 11, 1857 Gifford listed the exhibition pieces he had completed in Rome that winter, including "a view on the ‘Riviera di Ponente,' the coast near Genoa, from the Villa Pallavicini," and "a number of sketches." The large version was then "about finished." [ European Journals II, Mar. 11, 1857, p,129, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.] He also described his Sept. 1 excursion, explicating the painted view. "On one side the far stretching blue waters, the calm surface dotted with the white and picturesque lateen sails; on the other the slopes of the Apennines enriched with vines, olives, gardens, woods and villas. In the shadows of the fishing boats along the shore the fishermen lay sleeping in groups. Naked children, burnt dark brown, were playing in the sun on the beach, or splashing in the bright water. The gardens of the Villa Pallavicini are very extensive ... From various points of the high ground they cover there are very beautiful views up and down the coast. These points are selected and opened with great taste. The day was perfect; nothing could be more exquisite than the blue of the placi
(American, 1823-1880) Study for The Ruins of the Parthenon, 1869, estate stamp verso, oil on canvas, 3-1/2 x 6-1/4 in.; fine carved period gilt wood and composition frame, 14 x 16-1/2 in.
Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823-1880) oil on academy board, signed and dated lower left: "S.R. Gifford '69," depicting river landscape at sunset in the Hudson River School tradition, Devoe label on reverse. Image: 11.75" H x 8.875" W; frame: 16.5" H x 13.5" W x 1.75" D.
"Lago di Nemi" oil on canvas 13 1/2 x 20 1/2 inches. signed and dated 1857. in its original framed 25 x 31 1/2 inches (overall). Provenance: Windsor Street, Haverhill, MA (as seen in situ far left)
SANFORD ROBINSON GIFFORD American (1823-1880) "A Path in the Mountains" oil on canvas mounted on paperboard, initialed lower right "SRG" 10 5/8 x 7 5/8 inches Provenance: Private Collection, Jeckell Island, Georgia; Private Collection, Cabot Vermont; Driscoll Babcock, New York, New York. Other Notes: Tags: landscape, 19th century, Hudson River School The following comments were written by Kevin Avery, Adjunct Professor of American Art History at Hunter College and former Curator of American Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A richly and (evidently) rapidly executed oil sketch by Sanford Gifford, this painting may represent an overlook, at upper left, of North Mountain in the Catskills, near the descent into the Hudson River Valley. The work does not readily correspond to any title or size listed in the artist's exhibition records; in the catalogue of the 1880-81 Gifford Memorial exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the catalogues of the Gifford estate sale in April 1881; or in A Memorial Catalogue of the Paintings of Sanford Robinson Gifford, N. A., published by the Metropolitan Museum in 1881. Like the other Gifford painting in the same owner's collection (lot 77), this one reportedly came as a gift to the owner's parents from the late Mrs. Robert Wilkinson, Jr. (1876-1949), the wife of the son of Julia Gifford Wilkinson, a sister of the artist, who lived in Poughkeepsie, New York. Neither work appears to be recorded in the contemporaneous Gifford literature. The image represents, at upper left, a high ledge at overlooking a footpath, which advances into the center of the scene from the lower left and disappears behind two evergreen trees at right. On a sunlit portion of the path, at lower center, a small figure walks toward the evergreens. He is dressed in a red vest, pale blouse and hat, and dark pants. At lower right rests a pyramidal boulder, its shadowed side inscribed dimly with the initials, "SRG." The foliage of a tree overhangs the path at left, and a few stones border its right side. At upper right, beyond the evergreens, a large cumulus cloud swells up, answering the thrust of the ledge at left. Looming over the ledge is the underside of a gray, stormy-looking cloud, which trails tapers to the right. Gifford did not often execute paintings, such as this one, with at once such apparent spontaneity, speed, and "juiciness" of pigmentation. Still, there are a few comparable examples. Those paintings are also quite small, and date as early as about 1852-53. The most prominent of them may be the well-known Mist Rising at Sunset in the Catskills, usually dated about 1861, in the Art Institute of Chicago. Though the imagery of the Chicago sketch is more rudimentary, the dabbing facture in the clouds is very comparable to the same features in the present painting, as are the blockish vertical strokes of the rising mist, compared to the gray-green brushstrokes-hastily applied on the ledge here. Other "signature" Gifford marks in the present picture are the "broccoli-ish" contours of tree foliage and his taste for irregular pyramidal rocks with simple illuminated planes. His staffage in sketches like this one is marked by the minute, deftly applied impastos articulating the figure in motion. The initials on the rock seem a measure of the speed with which the artist made this oil sketch: they appear to have been inscribed wet-on-wet with a fairly broad brush loaded with both the pale and the light gray pigments used for the illuminated and the shadowed sides of the rock itself. I can only speculate, based on the paint recipe, facture, and the presumed subject of the painting, that it was made in the same general period as Mist Rising in the Catskills. Gifford was never more devoted to the Catskill Mountain region than during the Civil War era. Many oil sketches of the vicinity of Kaaterskill Clove (which Gifford spelled "Kauterskill") date from that time.
SANFORD ROBINSON GIFFORD American (1823-1880) "Lake George from Near Sabbath Day Point" oil on canvas mounted on paperboard, unsigned, inscribed on the reverse "Sanford R. Gifford (Hudsonian School) / Present from Mrs. Robert Wilkinson (neé Cornelia Maurice) Poughkeepsie, N.Y." 10 3/4 x 14 7/8 inches Provenance: Private Collection, Jeckell Island, Georgia; Private Collection, Cabot Vermont; Driscoll Babcock Galleries, New York, New York. Other Notes: Tags: Adirondacks, New York, landscape, river view, Hudson River School, 19th century The following comments were written by Kevin Avery, Adjunct Professor of American Art History at Hunter College and former Curator of American Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Though not signed or dated, the painting presented to me as "Lake Champlain" is an early work by Sanford Robinson Gifford. The picture does not appear to be recorded in the artist's exhibition records; in the catalogues of the 1880-81 Gifford Memorial exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the catalogues of the Gifford estate sale in April 1881; or in A Memorial Catalogue of the Paintings of Sanford Robinson Gifford, N.A., published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1881. Still, the painting relates in subject to at least two paintings recorded in those sources. It closely approximates the style of other Gifford paintings of the 1848-1850 period, and its imagery corresponds closely to at least one drawing, dated August 22, 1848, in an early Gifford sketchbook now in the Francis Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College. Based on the painting's imagery, I propose the title, Lake George from near Sabbath Day Point. Across the lake at left is Black Mountain, the highest hill overlooking the water on the east shore, with Mt. Erebus, Shelving Rock, and Buck Mountain to its right. The lake and mountains are set off by a foreground of brush, rocks and a tree stump, which bear the eye to a picket fence that extends, first right, then left into the fields of the middle distance. There, at the foot of a tall cypress tree, stands a red-roofed farmhouse, along with a few other dwellings and perhaps a barn close to the lakes near shore. A stand of trees projects into the view at right, as does a forested peninsula beyond, whose form is repeated in a few islands on the lake's surface. Beyond the mountains at right, a distant fleet of pale clouds echoes the forms of the peninsula and the islands. The painting's imagery relates closely to a drawing that Gifford inscribed, "Sabbath-Day Point, Aug. 22, 1848," in an 1847-48 sketchbook of "Marbletown, Catskills, & Lake George" subjects now in the collection of the Francis Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College. In the drawing can be seen the same mountain profiles as in the painting, as well as, in the foreground, a picket fence bordering a winding road leading to the lake in the middle distance. The location of the imagery in Gifford's picture tends to be confirmed, not only by modern photographs of Sabbath Day Point and its vicinity, but also by the testimony of persons who frequent Lake George. Both the exhibition records of the American Art-Union and the Memorial Catalogue of Gifford's work indicate that he executed, exhibited, and sold paintings (now unlocated) of Lake George subject matter in 1848 and 1849. The facture of Lake George from near Sabbath Day Point compares closely to contemporaneous paintings securely attributed to the artist, such as the Landscape with River (Scene in Northern New York) (1849; New-York Historical Society), and the recently discovered West Branch of the Delaware River (1851; currently Questroyal Fine Art, New York). All these pictures reflect Gifford's early, somewhat prosaic rendering of scenery, conventional landscape coloration (generally brown and green in the foreground, pale blue in the background), and youthful brushwork. Only a few years several years later would he advance to the highly atmospheric, chromatic and technically fluent style that marked his maturity. Note: According to the owner, attached to the verso of the backing of this painting was an index card, now removed. The card appears yellowed with age and is inscribed in an unknown hand. It records the artist's full name, his National Academy credentials, his birth and death dates, and paraphrases the title, partial authorship, and publication information of A Memorial Catalogue of the Paintings of the Sanford Robinson Gifford, N.A., cited above. On the right of the card, a separate inscription (in the same hand), evidently referring to the artist, reads: "was the brother of / the mother of the / late Mr. Robert / Wilkinson in / Poughkeepsie, N. Y. / (Mrs. Robert Wilkinson / is Cordelia[sic], née Maurice.[)]" Cornelia Maurice Wilkinson (1876-1949) was married to Robert Wilkinson, Jr. (1876-1934) His mother was Julia Gifford Wilkinson (1838-1937), one of the artist's sisters, married to Robert Wilkinson (1843-1903). One can only speculate that the present picture-and possibly the other brought to me for authentication (lot 40)-first belonged to Julia, who may have received both paintings directly from her brother before his death and the subsequent assembling of his remaining pictures for the Gifford estate sale in 1881. Neither of the two paintings brought to me can be readily linked with any titles in the sale, nor with any titles in the Memorial Catalogue. The current owner reportedly received the paintings from his parents, who received them from Mrs. Robert Wilkinson, Jr. (née Cornelia Maurice), with whom they were good friends.
Sanford Robinson Gifford two scenes of Catskill Clove and letter 1862 graphite on paper 2.25 h × 3.75 w in (6 × 10 cm) condition: Unmarked. Works are in overall good condition. Dimensions provided are of sketches. Works are toned with minor wear along edges of letter. Sketches previously mounted to backing sheet. Unframed.
Sanford Robinson Gifford View of Tivoli, and Landscape with Ruins graphite and gouache on paper 9 h × 14 w in (23 × 36 cm) Signed to center left 'S.R.G.'. Provenance: Leslie Hindman, Old Master, 19th Century and 20th Century Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture and Prints, 23 October 1996, Lot 8 condition: Work is in overall good condition and has not been examined outside of frame. Measurements are of sight. Sheet is toned unevenly throughout. Framed behind acrylic measuring 17 x 21 inches.
Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880) Moonrise on the Seashore signed with initials 'SRG' (lower right) oil on canvas 8 x 181⁄2 in. (20.3 x 47 cm.) Painted circa 1867.
SANFORD ROBINSON GIFFORD (AMERICAN 1823-1880) Into the Vistas, 1855 oil on canvas 19 x 24 cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.) signed lower left; dedicated From S.R.G.C. to James McIntyre on verso LOT NOTES The present lot was the artist`s gift to the son of Archibald McIntyre, the co-founder of the Adirondack Iron and Steel Company. CONDITION Observed out of the frame, the work is in overall good condition. Minor surface dust; would benefit from a light cleaning. Inspection under UV light shows several areas of restoration, including restored tear in the upper left quadrant (approx. 5 cm) and two smaller areas: vertical line to the ground on the bottom of the canvas, and to the upper center in the skies and top of the trees. N.B. All lots are sold in as-is condition at the time of sale. Please note that any condition statement regarding works of art is given as a courtesy to our clients in order to assist them in assessing the condition. The report is a genuine opinion held by Shapiro Auctions and should not be treated as a statement of fact. The absence of a condition report or a photograph does not preclude the absence of defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of any others. Shapiro Auctions, LLC., including its consultants and agents, shall have no responsibility for any error or omission.
Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823-1880) The Darent River, Kent, England, 1856 Oil on canvas 18-1/4 x 15-1/4 inches (46.4 x 38.7 cm) Bears artist's estate stamp on the reverse PROVENANCE: The artist; Estate of the above; Sale: Thomas E. Kirby and Co., New York, The Gifford Collection, April 28-29, 1881, lot 86; Anonymous Gifford family member, acquired from the above; Christie's, New York, March 11, 1993, lot 38; Johnson Hall Fine Art, Roswell, Georgia; Private collection, Alpharetta, Georgia, acquired from the above, 2004. EXHIBITED: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, "Gifford Estate Loan Collection," 1880-81, no. 79. LITERATURE: J.W. Ehninger, Autograph Etchings by American Artists, 1859, n.p., illustrated in reverse, as etching; I. Weiss, Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880), New York, 1977, pp. 193-95, no. VI G 5; I. Weiss, Poetic Landscape: The Art and Experience of Sanford R. Gifford, Newark, Delaware, 1987, p. 87. According to noted Gifford scholar Dr. Ila Weiss in a letter dated June 24, 2004, a copy of which accompanies this lot: "[ The Darent River, Kent, England] is a well-documented painting. On July 7, 1855, Gifford sketched a ‘footbridge over the Darent' for a painting commissioned by Vincent Coyler of Rowayton, Connecticut. (An oil sketch with that title and date is #62 in the Gifford Memorial Catalogue, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1881; Coyler's version is MC 63.) It included a ‘chimney of the paper mill' that remained on a site that Coyler's father had occupied. Several references to working on paintings of this subject occur in the first volume of the artist's European Journal (Archives of American Art). Six paintings of the subject were catalogued. The smallest and probably earliest sketch, retaining the chimney, is the only other version (MC #37). "[This] larger painting, bearing the Gifford Estate sale stamp, verso, is MC 82, identified as measuring (approximately) 18 ½ x 15 ½ inches, dated 1856, and exhibited in the Gifford Estate Loan Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1880-81, as #79. It was reported to be signed indistinctly in Christie's Sale Catalogue of March 11, 1993 (#38). Here the chimney is replaced by a church steeple which is given increased emphasis by leveling the horizon that it pierces, lightening the adjacent sky, and bathing the field before it in golden light. The distance occupied by this motif is enveloped in a luminous haze of sentiment. Two peasants on a rustic footbridge in the foreground, backs to the viewer, observing the river of the title, lend local color, both figuratively and literally. According to notations in an old copy of the estate auction catalogue, this painting was sold to a member of Gifford's family ( Catalogue Part II, The Gifford Collection, April 28 and 29 (New York: Thomas E. Kirby and Co., 1881, #86)). "Gifford drew this composition, with the church steeple, on prepared glass from an early photographic etching process, cliché verre, developed by John W. Ehninger. It was used (printed in reverse) to illustrate a poem by N.P. Willis in Ehninger's Autograph Etchings by American Artists (1859) [reproduced in my book, Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880) (New York: Garland, 1977), VI G 5]. The paintings and cliché verre are discussed in that publication, pp. 193-195, as well as in my book, Poetic Landscape: The Art and Experience of Sanford R. Gifford (Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press, 1987, p. 87). HID01801242017
Sanford Robinson Gifford NA (1823-1880 New York, NY) "Mountain Brook" Oil on canvas Signed lower left: S.R. Gifford, titled on the frame plaque 15" H x 11" W
