John Frederick Kensett
View on the Hudson
1864
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John Frederick Kensett
View on the Hudson
1864
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Sight: 27 1/2 x 44 1/2 in. (69.9 x 113 cm) Framed: 42 x 59 x 5 in. (106.7 x 149.9 x 12.7 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Paul H. Miller
Object Number
1942.4
John Frederick Kensett used summer sketches made in New York and New England to create serene canvases like this panoramic view of the Hudson River near West Point. Backed by the Catskills and bathed in lambent atmospheric light, the scene incorporates both unspoiled nature and nascent economic change. We glimpse not only old-fashioned sailing sloops, but also a steamboat towing barges and a puffing train traveling the Hudson River Railroad’s New York-Albany line. A woman reading a book at lower left recalls that images of landscape and ideas of nation were deeply intertwined in painting and literature, helping to shape American identity in the mid-19th century. Snapped up by a Baltimore collector as contemporary art, View on the Hudson was exhibited at the Maryland Historical Society in 1868.
Publication References
"A Picture Book," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1955, ill. p. 44
'The Frontier Fallacy,' "BMA News," June 1958, ill. p. 8
Howard S. Merritt, 'American Landscape Paintings in the Museum Collection,' "BMA News," Winter 1962, p. 15, ill. p. 14
Kent Roberts Greenfield, 'Annual 1,' "BMA News," 1966, ill. p. 98
John K. Howat, "The Hudson River and ITs Painters," New York: The Viking Press, 1972, p. 145, no. 27, ill. pl. 27
Sona K. Johnston, "American Paintings 1750-1900 from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1983, no. 80, pp. 98-100, ill.
Baltimore Museum of Art. The American Wing. Brochure. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, [198-?], unpaged.
William M. S. Rasmussen, 'A Journey into the American Paradise: John Frederick Kensett's "Evening on the Hudson,"' "Arts in Virginia," (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond), Vol. 28, no. 1, 1988, ill. p. 12
Louise Minks, "The Hudson River School," New York: Crescent Books, 1989, p. 69, ill.
Angela L. Miller, "The Empire of the Eye: Landscape Representations and American Cultural Politics," Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993, fig. 52, p. 245
"Brice Maden Retrospektive," NY: The Museum of Modern Art, 2007, no. 1, p. 77.
Frances F. Dunwell, "The Hudson: America's River," New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Incorrectly published as "The Hudson River."
Rochelle L. Johnson, "Passions for Nature," Athens & London: The University of Georgia Press, 2009 (cover illus.)
Evelyn D. Trebilcock and Valerie A. Balint, "Glories of the Hudson, Frederic Edwin Church's Views from Olana," Hudson, NY: The Olana Partnership, 2009, fig. 6, p. 21.
Bland, Bartholmew F., and Laura L. Vookles. "The Panoramic River: the Hudson and the Thames" Yonkers, NY: The Hudson River Museum, 2013. ill. p. 24, 181.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum." Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1942; Mrs. Paul H. Miller, Baltimore; Bertha Lee Jenkins Miller, from her mother; Clara Vandervoort Jenkins, from her husband; J. Stricker Jenkins, Baltimore, by 1868
Views near West Point and Boscobel
Hudson River Project
The Hudson and the Thames
AMW Reinstallation 2014
American Wing Rotations 2020
American Wing Rotations 2021
American Wing Rotations 2022
American Wing Rotations 2023
American Wing Rotations 2024
American Wing Rotations 2025
BMA, A Picture Book, 1955, ill. p. 44
"The Frontier Fallacy," BMA News, June 1958, ill. p. 8
Howard S. Merritt, "American Landscape Paintings in the Museum Collection," BMA News, Winter 1962, p. 15, ill. p. 14; Kent Roberts Greenfield, Annual I, BMA, 1966, ill. p. 98
John K. Howat, The Hudson River and Its Painters, New York: The Viking Press, 1972, P. 145, no. 27, ill. pl. 27.
"The Frontier Fallacy," BMA News, June 1958, ill. p. 8
Howard S. Merritt, "American Landscape Paintings in the Museum Collection," BMA News, Winter 1962, p. 15, ill. p. 14; Kent Roberts Greenfield, Annual I, BMA, 1966, ill. p. 98
John K. Howat, The Hudson River and Its Painters, New York: The Viking Press, 1972, P. 145, no. 27, ill. pl. 27.
Inscribed: Signed and dated, lower left, "JF. K. '65"