ATLANTA – A stunning oil on canvas painting by renowned Hudson School artist Worthington
14-16 in Atlanta. (Photo courtesy Ahlers & Ogletree)
Whittredge (Am., 1820-1910), titled “Campers in the Blue Ridge Mountains,” artist-signed lower right, is an expected top lot at Ahlers & Ogletree’s New Year’s Signature Estates Auction, slated for Jan. 14-16 in the firm’s gallery at 715 Miami Circle (Suite 210) in Atlanta.
From a prominent Atlanta private collection, the painting depicts a stony stream surrounded by dense forest. A group of figures in the background building a small fire is at the center of this painting. It is a classic Hudson River School painting that captures the essence of American Transcendentalism. It presents at a size of 23 inches by 34 inches, and carries an auction-house set presale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000.
Hudson River School History
Several relevant documents are available that attest to the work’s impeccable provenance. These include correspondences from officials at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute (Utica, N.Y.), the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, Ga.), and Berger Art Conservation, Inc. (New York, founded in 1967).
Affixed to the bottom of the painting’s frame is a vintage plaque that reads, “Worthington Whittredge Campers in the Blue Ridge Mountains.”
A native of Springfield, Ohio Worthington Whittredge's childhood involved farming and living in a log home. Early on his set his focus on landscapes and portraits.
Whittredge arrived in Germany and enrolled at the Dusseldorf Academy, a major art school of the period. Ultimately, he met important contemporaries Albert Bierstadt and later Sanford Gifford. Both are leading Hudson River School painters. He spent nearly ten years in Europe, returning to the United States in 1859, where he opened an art studio.
Worthington's Artistic Evolution
Developing what came to be known as the Hudson River School style, he did this with Bierstadt, Gifford and other contemporaries. Whittredge’s artwork incorporated the topographical style of the Hudson River School with the use of light and color typical of the French Barbizon School and Impressionism.
Whittredge also painted in the Great Plains states, and is best known for his Hudson River School renderings like the one being sold, works that feature the Catskill Mountains in New York, the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
For more information, visit www.AandOAuctions.com, call 404-869-2478, and to consign in future auctions email email@example.com.
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