John Frederick Kensett (1816-1872)

SOLD

View from Narragansett
Estate stamp on verso
Oil on canvas laid on board
Condition: (see full condition report)
Source: Christie’s Auction, New York City, New York, May 25, 1898, Lot 48

John Kensett, the son of an English engraver, was born in Cheshire, Connecticut. He was an admired leader among the artists of the Hudson River School and active in New York’s artist circles, including the National Academy and The Century Association. He was a founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Like his fellow painters, he traveled widely in search of inspirational natural settings. He began painting scenes of the shore at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1854 and returned to the subject repeatedly over the rest of his life. His late work, sometimes called “The Last Summer’s Work,” framed nature with a new simplicity, filled with light and air.
His paintings are in major museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Smithsonian Institution and the White House.