Theodore Robinson
The Watering Place
1890
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Theodore Robinson
The Watering Place
1890
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Unframed: 21 15/16 x 17 15/16 x 3/4 in. (55.7 x 45.6 x 1.9 cm)
Framed: 32 x 28 x 3 1/2 in. (81.3 x 71.1 x 8.9 cm)
Credit Line
The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
Object Number
1950.358
Starting in the late 1880s Theodore Robinson made regular visits to Giverny, where the French impressionist master Claude Monet maintained his studio and famous garden. Inspired by Monet’s work, Robinson frequently chose to paint at sites nearby. Here, he captures a local resident, Père Trognon, watering his horse by a small bridge near the center of the village. Traces of a grid visible through thinly painted passages suggest that Robinson may have used a photograph to arrive at a preliminary composition. The finished canvas exhibits Robinson’s fully developed brushwork and fragile yet vibrant tonalities. The Watering Place was one of the first impressionist paintings to enter a Baltimore collection. Moses Cone provided funds for Etta Cone to purchase this picture at Robinson’s estate sale in 1898.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1949; Etta Cone, Baltimore, by purchase, March 24, 1898; Robinson Estate Sale, American Art Galleries, New York
IN MONET'S LIGHT: THEODORE ROBINSON AT GIVERNY
Academy of the Arts 50th Anniversary - Easton, Maryland
AMW Reinstallation 2014
American Wing Rotations 2020
American Wing Rotations 2021
Cone Wing Rotations 2025
"Paintings in Oil and Pastel by Theodore Robinson and Theodore Wendel," Boston: Williams & Everett Gallery, no. 19.
"Brooklyn Standard Union," 1895.
"The Cotton States and International Exposition," Atlanta: Cotton States and International Exposition, 1895, p. 255, no. 504.
"Theodore Robinson," New York: William Macbeth Gallery, 1895, no. 23.
"A Collection of Work by the Late Theodore Robinson Embracing Twenty-One Studies and Pictures," Cincinnati: Cincinnati Museum Association, 1897, no. 6.
"Paintings and Studies by the Late Theodore Robinson," New York: American Art Association, 1898, no. 84.
Etta Cone, "The Cone Collection of Baltimore-Maryland," Baltimore: Etta Cone, 1934, p. 26 (published as "Horse Drinking").
John I. H. Baur, "Theodore Robinson 1852-1896," New York: The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and The Brooklyn Museum, 1946, p. 80, no. 253.
"The Impressionist Mood in American Painting," New York: The American Academy of Arts and Letters, The National Institute of Arts and Letters, 1959, no. 2.
Barbara Pollack, "The Collectors: Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta Cone," Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1962, pp. 34, 215. (Published as "Horse Drinking").
"Theodore Robinson, American Impressionist (1852-1896)," New York: Kennedy Galleries, Inc., 1966, p. 13.
George Boas, Adelyn Breeskin, and Gertrude Rosenthal, "Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings in the Cone Collection," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1967, p. 68, no. 103.
John I. H. Baur and Donelson F. Hoopes, "Three Nineteenth Century American Painters: John Quidor - Eastman Johnson - Theodore Robinson," New York: Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and the Brooklyn Museum, 1969, p. 80, no. 253.
"Art Across North America," "Apollo," October 1973, vol. XCVIII, no. 140, p. 311, ill.
Sona Johnston, "Theodore Robinson, 1852-1896," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1973, p. 40, no. 39, ill.
Sona Johnston, "Theodore Robinson Exhibition to Open at Museum," "Record of The Baltimore Museum of Art," May 1973, vol. 3, no. 8, n.p., ill.
"Exhibition Calendar," "American Art Review," March-April 1974, vol. I, no. 3, p. 38, ill. p. 38.
"Reviews and Previews," "Art News," January 1974, vol. 73, no. 1, p. 95.
Sona K. Johnston, "American Paintings 1750-1900 from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1983, pp. 139, 141, fig. 119, ill.
Sona K. Johnston, "American Paintings in the Baltimore Museum of Art," "The Magazine Antiques," November 1985, vol. CXXVIII, no. 5, p. 995, fig. 10, ill.
Brenda Richardson, "Dr. Claribel & Miss Etta: The Cone Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1985, pp. 55-56, 167.
Alexander W. Katlan, "American Artists' Materials Suppliers' Directory: Nineteenth Century," Park Ridge, NJ: Noyes Press, 1987, p. 357.
Bev Harrington and William Kloss, "The Figural Images of Theodore Robinson American Impressionist," Oshkosh, WI: Paine Art Center and Arboretum, 1987, pp. 34-35.
Hélène Ahrweiler, D. Scott Atkinson, William H. Gerdts, Roger Mandle, Carole L. Shelby, Jochen Wierich, "Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865-1915," Evanston, IL: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992, pp. 134-135, fig. 122, ill.
Betty Kathryn Koeninger, "Theodore Robinson's La Débâcle, 1892: An American Artist in France," Riverside, CA: University of California Master's Thesis, 1992, pp. 49-50.
William H. Gerdts, "Monet's Giverny: An Impressionist Colony," New York: Abbeville Press, 1993, p. 94
Allison Eckardt Ledes, "Current and Coming," "The Magazine Antiques," vol. CXLVIII, no. 2, August 1995, p. 136, ill.
Mary Gabriel, "The Art of Acquiring: A Portrait of Etta and Claribel Cone," Baltimore: Bancroft Press, 2002, pp. 15, 18, 253
Eric M. Zafran, "Impressionism to Surrealism from the Baltimore Museum of Art," Hartford: Wadsworth Atheneum, 2002, pp. 6, 22, no. 46, ill.
Sona Johnston and Paul Tucker, "In Monet's Light: Theodore Robinson at Giverny," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2004, pp. 60, 126, no. 27, ill.
Ellen B. Hirschland and Nancy Hirschland Ramage, "The Cone Sisters of Baltimore: Collecting at Full Tilt," Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2008, pp. 38-39, 243, 278, fig. 3.4, ill.
Karen Levitov, "Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore," New York: The Jewish Museum, 2011, p. 71.
Hilarie M. Sheets, "'My Two Baltimore Ladies,'" "ArtNews," May 2011, vol. 110, no. 5, p. 48.
Baltimore Museum of Art. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum. Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
Cozzi, Leslie and Katherine Rothkopf (eds). "A Modern Influence: Henri Matisse, Etta Cone, and Baltimore." Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2021. ill.
Theodore Robinson Estate Sale, American Art Association, New York, Mar. 24, 1898, no. 84; The Cone Collection of Baltimore, Maryland, privately published by Etta Cone, Baltimore, 1934, P. 26; Barbara Pollack, The Collectors: Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta Cone, Indian-apolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1962, p. 34; The Cone Collection, rev. ed., BMA, 1967, p. 68, no. 103
Inscribed: Recto: Lower right in purple paint, "Th. Robinson/1891" Verso: Top left stretcher in black, "Watering Place/Th. Robinson/ 1__8 14Ny" Top left canvas, oval stamp, illegible Center top canvas, large oval stamp, "54 rue ___ Champs Paris/PAUL FOINET/VAN EYCK/TOILES & ___ FINES" Center of middle support in black, "Watering Up___" Top right canvas in black grease pencil, "240" Bottom right canvas in black grease pencil, upside down and scratched out, "30/4/Box" Bottom center canvas in black, "Box 3"
