ARTIST: William Hart (New York, British, Scottish, 1823 - 1894)
NAME: River Landscape with Cows
MEDIUM: oil on canvas
CONDITION: Relined. Missing a few flakes of paint. Minor craquelure. Minor scattered inpainting in the sky. Wear to frame.
SIGHT SIZE: 9 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches / 25 x 43 cm
FRAME SIZE: 14 x 21 inches / 35 x 53 cm
SIGNATURE: lower right
CATEGORY: antique vintage painting
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SKU#: 120699
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BIOGRAPHY:
William Hart (March 31, 1823 – June 17, 1894), was a Scottish-born American landscape and Hudson River School artist, known in later years for painting cattle into his landscapes. His younger brother, James McGougal Hart was also a Hudson River School artist. William Hart was born in Scotland and in 1831 emigrated to the United States with his family, settling in Albany, NY. He was apprenticed to a decorative painter and his first artistic experience was in decorating the panels of coaches with landscapes He also spent time as a portrait painter. He toured the mid-western States, predominantly Michigan, during the late 1830s seeking portrait commissions, and was unsuccessful. In late 1849, he was underwritten by a Dr. Ormsby to travel to Europe to study landscape painting. He painted primarily in Scotland until 1852, after which he returned to Albany, and then in 1853, moved to New York. By the time he returned to America, Hart had shifted his energy to landscape painting. Like most of the major American landscape artists of the time, Hart settled in New York City, where he opened a studio in 1858. In 1865, he was elected President of the Brooklyn Academy of Design.Hart was a full member of the National Academy in 1858, and continued to show his paintings there regularly through the mid-1870s. He also exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association and at major exhibitions around the country. Hart was a member of the American Watercolor Society, and was its president from 1870 to 1873.Hart traveled widely and prolifically documented the American landscape in oil paintings, etchings, and watercolors.