What might have been left out of this painting?

Worthington Whittredge

Born in a log cabin in Ohio, Worthington Whittredge traveled to Germany in 1849 to study painting with Emanuel Leutze at the Düsseldorf Academy. He remained in Europe for 10 years before returning to the United States, settling in New York City and becoming a major figure of the Hudson River School. Despite living in a major city, Whittredge returned again and again to the subject of American landscapes and forest interiors.

Whittredge likely made this painting on the last of three journeys to the American West. He was deeply impressed by the beauty of the countryside: “Nothing could be more like an Arcadian landscape . . . the earth covered with soft grass waving in the wind, with innumerable flowers often covering acres with a single color as if they had been planted there.”

Medium

Oil on canvas

Credit

Museum purchase, Roscoe and Margaret Oakes Income Fund

Item ID

1986.39

Dimensions

15 3/8 x 23 1/8 in. (39.1 x 58.7 cm)

Date

1871

Country

United States