Sanford Robinson Gifford
A Dreamy Day in New England
c. 1854-1870
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, paperboard, Framed: 15 1/2 × 19 5/8 × 3 1/2 in. (39.4 × 49.8 × 8.9 cm.)
Unframed: 5 1/2 × 9 5/8 in. (14 × 24.4 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Paul H. Miller
Object Number
1942.6
By the 1840s, American artists favored landscape over portraiture. Sanford Gifford refers to the new priority in an 1874 letter, recalling his walking tours in the Catskill Mountains and the Berkshire Hills in 1846. He made “a good many sketches from nature [which] together with the great admiration I felt for the works of Cole developed my strong interest in Landscape Art, and I opened my eyes to a keener perception and more intelligent enjoyment of Nature. Having once enjoyed the absolute freedom of the Landscape painter’s life, I was unable to return to portrait painting. From this time my direction in art was determined.” As painters filled the demand for landscapes, portraiture became largely the province of photography, starting with the daguerreotype, which was introduced in 1839.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1942; Mrs. Paul H. Miller, Baltimore
Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., "Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880)," The University of Texas Art Museum, Austin, Texas, October 27-December 13, 1970, p. 27, cat. no. 40, ill. p. 64; circulated to The Albany Institute of History and Art and Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York, through February 27, 1971.
The Mint Museum, "Identity Theft: How a Gifford Became a Cropsey and a Cropsey a Gifford," November 21, 2009 - March 28, 2010.
The Mint Museum, "Identity Theft: How a Gifford Became a Cropsey and a Cropsey a Gifford," November 21, 2009 - March 28, 2010.
William S. Talbot, "Jasper F. Cropsey, 1823-1900," New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1977, p. 443.
Sona K. Johnston, "American Paintings 1750-1900 from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1983, no. 47, p. 67.
John K. Howat, intro., "American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School," New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987, fig. 2, p. 216, ill.
Inscribed: Signed, lower right: "SR Gifford". Not dated.
On View: American Wing Second Floor, Scott 01
