About This Artwork
George Inness
American, 1825-1894
The Home of the Heron, 1893
Oil on canvas
76.2 x 115.2 cm (30 x 45 in.)
Signed, lower right: "G. Inness 1893"
Edward B. Butler Collection, 1911.31
During the final years of his life, George Inness and his family spent their winters in Tarpon Springs on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Although his health was failing, the artist continued to paint in Florida and produced some of his most subtle, evocative work there. The Home of the Heron was inspired by the area's wet landscape and seemingly endless sunsets. Influenced by eighteenth-century theologian Emmanuel Swedenborg's philosophy, Inness's spiritual beliefs were the guiding force behind his work. In this painting, the artist used abstraction to convey spiritual associations and to capture the otherworldliness of the marsh.
Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories
Exhibition History
New York, American Fine Arts Society, "Exhibition of the Paintings Left by the Late George Inness," December 27, 1894, no. 34.
New York, Lotos Club, "Exposition of Paintings from the Collection of Mr. Emerson McMillin," March 29-31, 1902, no. 13.
Chicago, Henry Reinhardt Galleries, "An Exhibition of Eighteen Pictures by the American Master of Landscape Painting, the late George Inness, N.A.," 1911, no. 3.
Austin, Texas, University Art Museum, University of Texas, "The Paintings of George Inness (1844-1894)," 1965-1966, no. 122, ill.
Peoria, Illinois, Lakeview Center for the Arts and Sciences, "Nineteenth Century American Painters," 1967.
Spokane, Washington, International Exposition "Our Land, Our Sky, Our Water: An Exhibition of Amerian and Canadian Art," 1974, no. 20.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, "THe Natural Paradise: Painting in America 1800-1950," 1976.
Oakland Museum Art Department, George Inness Landscapes: His Signature YEars, 1884-1894," 1978-79.
Jacksonville, Fla., Cummer Gallery of Art, George Inness in Florida, 1890-1894, and the South, 1884-1894, April 11-May 25, 1980, no. 21.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, George Inness, April 1-June 9, 1985, Nicolai Chikovsky and Michael Quick, cat. no. 59, p. 195, ill. ; traveled to The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, November 10, 1985-January 12, 1986; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, February 20-May 11, 1986. (Picture did not go to the final condensed exhibition at the National Gallery in Washington, June 22-September 7, 1986, no. 59.
National Academy of Design, New York, The Art of George Inness: A Visionary Perspective, September 17-December 28, 2003, traveled to San Diego Museum of Art, January 24-April 18, 2004, no. 36.
Williamstown, Massachusetts, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, "Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly," June 22-October 19, 2008.
Publication History
Bland Simpson, “Canalbank Life,” Virginia Calvalcade (Spring 1990) pp. 172-181, ill. p. 177.
Judith A. Barter et al, American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998).
Michael Quick, George Inness, a Catalogue Raisonne, vol. 2 (Rutgers University Press, 2007), no. 1097, pl. 238, as The Sun's Last Reflection.
Ownership History
Estate of the artist (sale, Fifth Avenue Galleries, New York, February 12-14, 1895, no. 69, as "The Sun's Last Reflection;"; E.W. Bass, 1895; Emerson McMillin, New York, to 1911; Knoedler & Co., New York, 1911; Reinhardt Galleries, Chicago, 1911; sold to Edward B. Butler, Chicago, 1911; given to the Art Institute, 1911.