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Portfolios%20%3D%20%221960%22%20and%20Century%20%3D%20%2219th%20Century%22%20and%20Disp_Obj_Type%20%3D%20%22Painting%22
Painting
The Night Before the Battle
James Henry Beard, (Buffalo, NY, 1811 - 1893, Flushing, NY)
Beard, James Henry
United States
1811 - 1893
Male
30 1/2 x 44 1/2 in. (77.5 x 113 cm)
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approximate installation dimensions
frame
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without frame
Oil
Oil
1865
1865
1865
1800-1900, 19th century, Death, genre scenes, paintings, war
Painting
James Beard had first-hand experience as a captain in the Union army during the Civil War. This painting, completed in the year the war ended, is a dramatic statement about the ever-present possibility of death on the battlefield.
[Gallery label text, 2007]
Were it not for details like the skeleton keeping vigil behind the cannon, the cruciform composition of the flag draped over the sleeping soldier, and the scattered playing cards suggestive of luck and chance, this painting would be a simple narrative about the Civil War. However, such potent symbolism imbues the work with layers of spiritual significance.
Perhaps the reminders of death and sacrifice that the artist included in his masterful painting emerged from his firsthand experience in the Union Army during the Civil War. The meticulously selected and carefully arranged details attest to the poignancy of the soldiers' situation and contrast with the implied violence that will occur on the morrow.
[Gallery label text]
lower left
1978.15
item
Memorial Art Gallery
9/8/1999
78.15TR1
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Memorial Art Gallery
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78.15SL1
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78.15DI1
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Memorial Art Gallery
Imaging complete
6/26/2000
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78.15SL2
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detail-soldiers sleeping
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78.15SL3
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detail-man with flag
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78.15SL4
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detail-skeleton
2 x 2
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78.15DI2
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Memorial Art Gallery
Imaging complete
6/26/2000
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78.15DI3
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M425_p83.tif
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M425_p83(10).tif
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78.15DI#4
digital image
7/16/2012
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/78.15_A4.jpg
Painting
Genesee Oaks
Asher Brown Durand, 1796 - 1886
Durand, Asher Brown
United States
1796 - 1886
Male
28 1/4 x 42 in. (71.8 x 106.7 cm)
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approximate installation dimensions
frame
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without frame
Oil
Oil
1860
1860
1860
1800-1900, 19th century, cows, Hudson River School, landscapes, paintings, rivers, trees in art, views of Rochester & western New York
Painting
Asher B. Durand was commissioned to paint this magnificent vista overlooking the Genesee River Valley in Geneseo, New York, by a member of the Wadsworth family, the village founders. At one time, they owned all the land from Geneseo to Rochester.
[Gallery label text, 2007]
No matter what the weather, this view across the Genesee Valley near Geneseo is as breathtaking now as it was over two hundred years ago, when landowner James S. Wadsworth commissioned Hudson River school founder Asher B. Durand to record the beauty of the landscape in a painting. In the summer of 1859, Durand traveled from New York City to the Genesee Valley to make preparatory sketches. Trained as an engraver, he recorded many of the details that he saw, but in addition, his personal belief in the immanence of the divine in the natural world motivated him to present a landscape that seems to extend infinitely.
Statuesque oak trees, many of which are still standing on the land, dominate the painting. In this region, the trees were more than a decorative feature. When the Wadsworths began to sell and lease land to local farmers, they included a clause in the contract requiring that a number of trees remain after the land was cleared. This was a holdover from British husbandry; the result was a countryside that was not only beautiful but that provided sun and moisture control for humans and animals alike. Genesee Oaks was Durand's tribute to the splendor of this valley.
[Gallery label text]
Durand visited the Genesee country but once, sketching in the Geneseo area during late June and July of 1859. Of his trip he wrote to his son in August: "With all my troubles I believe I have learnt more about the management of colors in the painting of trees than by all my previous practice, altho' I have never produced so little in the same span of time, not having made but four studies in five weeks."
During the following year, back in his studio, Durand painted Genesee Oaks, based on the sketches he had made. The painting was commissioned by James Samuel Wadsworth, a local squire, who owned the work when it was exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1861. Seven oil studies done near Geneseo in 1859 are photographed in Durand's studio after 1878. A photograph shows three small sculptures of cows, two standing, one reclining that may have served as models for the animals in the painting.
Howard S. Merritt
Peters, Susan Dodge, ed. Memorial Art Gallery: An Introduction to the Collection. (Rochester, NY: The Memorial Art Gallery, 1988). p.182-3.
lower left
1974.5
item
Memorial Art Gallery
9/8/1999
74.5TR1
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Memorial Art Gallery
4 x 5
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74.5DI2
digital image
Memorial Art Gallery
8/25/2001
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Memorial Art Gallery
Imaging complete
6/23/2000
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74..5DI4
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Detail cows and figure under trees
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Painting
Pittsford on the Erie Canal
George Harvey, 1800 - 1878
Harvey, George
United States
1800 - 1878
Male
17 1/2 x 23 1/2 in. (44.5 x 59.7 cm)
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approximate installation dimensions
frame
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without frame
Oil
Oil
1837
1837
1837
Painting
This scene is thought to be in the vicinity of King’s Bend Park just outside of Pittsford Village.
[Gallery label text, 2007]
lower right
2005.33
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Memorial Art Gallery
5/20/2005
2005.33DI1
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6harvey1.tif
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2005.33DI#5
digital image
1/20/2006
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2005.33DI#6
digital image
11/1/2005
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/2005.33_A7.jpg
2005.33DI#7
digital image
1/7/2014
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/2005.33_A8.jpg
Painting
Home Late
Mortimer Smith, 1840 - 1896
Smith, Mortimer
United States
1840 - 1896
Male
40 x 46 in. (101.6 x 116.8 cm)
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approximate installation dimensions
frame
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without frame
Oil
Oil
1866
1866
1866
1800-1900, 19th century, children, families, genre scenes, home life, men, paintings, weather & water
Painting
Home Late is the earliest identified painting by Mortimer Smith. The shadowy interior of the frontier cabin demonstrates his mastery of the genre scene: the rifle hanging from the ceiling side by side with drying meats and vegetables, supper cooking in the kettle suspended in the stone fireplace, and the dog sleeping peacefully by the fire. Smith is equally adept at capturing the warm glow cast by the fire as it contrasts with the cold light of the winter scene beyond the doorway. The child pausing in the doorway heightens the emotional ambiguity of the scene as he surveys the cabin's interior, perhaps to gauge the mood within as he returns home late from skating.
Smith's landscape and genre scenes suggest familiarity with his better-known contemporaries, like Albert Bierstadt and Eastman Johnson. Certainly, early exposure to the work exhibited at the Cosmopolitan Art Association in Sandusky provided Smith with models of painting styles that continued to influence him throughout his life.
[Gallery label text]
lower left
1975.139
item
Memorial Art Gallery
9/8/1999
75.139TR1
Transparency
Memorial Art Gallery
pink
4 x 5
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75.139DI1
digital image
Memorial Art Gallery
Imaging complete
7/14/2000
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M425_p90(10).tif
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cmyk
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75.139DI#5
digital image
11/18/2019
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/75.139_A3.jpg