A Journey Up The Hudson River
Updated: Mar 30, 2022
We love the process of discovery in finding new pieces and it is amazing what we find in our travels. One example recently was a stunning pair of oils in grand frames that we found when delivering a cabinet to a customer in the Peak District. They are signed JVC and dated 1851.
JVC, we believe stands for John V. Cornell who was part of the "Hudson River School", a 19th Century North American art movement. One of John Cornell's most renowned pieces is the "View of the Hudson Highlands from Ruggles House" painted in 1838. This was one of 45 paintings in the exhibition, “The Hudson River to Niagara Falls: 19th Century American Landscape Paintings from the New-York Historical Society” held at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art in New Paltz in 2009.
The "Hudson River School" was coined to describe, perhaps disparagingly, a group of artists who painted the Hudson River and surrounding area. A leading figure was Thomas Cole, an English artist who took a steamship up the Hudson in 1825 and was inspired by the brilliant autumn colours.
The Hudson River Landscapes are characterised by their realistic, detailed and somewhat idealised portrayal of nature. Many of the painting were grand undertakings meant to convey the vast scale of the wilderness areas themselves.
Our paintings are striking examples with rural ideals in the foreground and the river and mountains in the background. They are displayed in the most gorgeous grand gilt gesso frames.