The Rocky Mountains
Artist:
Worthington Whittredge
(American, 1820 - 1910)
Place made:United States
Date: 1875
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
15 1/2 x 25 in. (39.4 x 63.5 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of Dr. and Mrs. Frederic G. Oppenheimer
Object number: 52.106.8
Signed: Signed and dated lower left, "W. Whittredge 1875"
Label Text
Thomas Worthington Whittredge’s life was forever changed by visits to the Western United States in 1866, 1870, and 1871. Although he had been most comfortable painting scenes of New York’s Hudson River Valley and around New England, he avidly responded to what he called the “vastness and silence” of the Western plains. That quality is apparent in this scene painted in the studio from memory, four years after his final trip. Although the snow-covered peaks of the Rockies appear in the far background, the artist concentrates the viewer’s attention on the group of Native Americans who have paused to gather water in the foreground. The deep shadows of the trees falling across the banks of the river, as well as the play of reflections in the water, lend a mesmerizing quality to the painting, creating a sense of quiet absorption.
(William Keyse Rudolph, 2014)
(William Keyse Rudolph, 2014)
On view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
