Mist Rising at Sunset in the Catskills

Arts of the Americas

c. 1861

Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823–1880)

Sanford Robinson Gifford was a key figure of the Hudson River School, the group of landscape painters that flourished in the New York region in the mid-19th century. The Catskill Mountains were an important subject for Gifford, who made drawings and oil sketches like this one during excursions in the area; such works often served as source material for larger compositions produced later in his studio. Mist Rising at Sunset in the Catskills is a swift, freely rendered depiction of evanescent mist above a pond and brilliantly illuminated clouds amid a low sun. Two men attending a boat on the shore give the mountainous scene a sense of grandeur despite the painting’s small dimensions.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Sanford Robinson Gifford
Title: Mist Rising at Sunset in the Catskills
Place: United States (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1861
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 17.2 × 24.1 cm (6 3/4 × 9 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Jamee J. and Marshall Field
Reference Number: 1988.217
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/71971/manifest.json

John F. Weir, A Memorial Catalogue of the Paintings of Sanford Robinson Gifford, N.A., (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1881), 21, cat. 191.
Angela Miller, “Albert Bierstadt, Landscape Aesthetics, and the Meanings of the West in the Civil War Era,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 27, no. 1 (2001): 40–59, fig. 3 (ill.).

New York, Alexander Gallery, Sanford R. Gifford, Mar. 20–Apr. 19, 1986, cat. 11, (ill.)
Dallas Museum of Art, ‘That Earlier, Wilder Image’: Sketches by American Landscape Painters, 1830–1880, June 14–Sept. 13, 1998, cat.; Washington, DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Oct. 11, 1998–Jan. 10, 1999; Williamstown, MA, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Feb. 6–May 9, 1999.
London, Tate Gallery, American Sublime, Feb. 20–May 19, 2002; Munich, Haus der Kunst, June 13–Sept. 1, 2002, Minneapolis, Institute of Fine Arts, Sept. 22–Nov. 17, 2002.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hudson River School Visions: The Landscapes of Sanford R. Gifford, Oct. 7, 2003–Feb. 8, 2004, cat.; Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum, Mar. 4–May 16, 2004; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, June 27–Sept. 26, 2004.

Estate of the artist. Alexander Gallery, New York, by 1986; sold to Marshall Field V and Jamee J. Field (1947–2020; born Jamee Beckwith Jacobs), Chicago, by 1988; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1988.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.