WILLIAM LOUIS SONNTAG (American, 1822-1900). Autumn Landscape. Oil on canvas. 14 x 20 inches (35.6 x 50.8 cm). Signed lo...

Description

WILLIAM LOUIS SONNTAG (American, 1822-1900)
Autumn Landscape
Oil on canvas
14 x 20 inches (35.6 x 50.8 cm)
Signed lower left: W.L. Sonntag

PROVENANCE:
Mrs. Beatrice Dunn, Bismarck, Arkansas;
Private collection, Hot Springs, Arkansas (by descent).

William Sonntag's jewel-like Autumn Landscape, most likely a depiction of the Adirondacks, idealizes the American wilderness. As in his other paintings of this region, Sonntag utilizes a warm sunrise glow to illuminate a sweeping mountain range, bursting into autumn color. The dawn stillness is interrupted only by a rushing river and flurry of migrating birds - not by any signs of man or encroaching industrialization.

A native of Pennsylvania, Sonntag spent his early career in Ohio, during the 1840s training at the Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts and painting landscapes in the nearby Ohio River Valley and the mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky. By the 1850s Sonntag had become a household name in this region, due in part to his commission from the B&O Railroad and to his regular appearances in the Western Art Union exhibitions. After trips to Europe in the early 1850s, Sonntag settled in New York City and became affiliated with the Hudson River School, favoring various eastern sites as his subjects: the Adirondacks, the Alleghenies, the Catskills, the Shenandoah Valley, and the White Mountains. The National Academy of Design awarded him associate membership in 1861.


More information about WILLIAM LOUIS SONNTAG. See also: Sonntag, William Louis, Sontag, William Louis, William Louis Sonntag Artist.

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