Painting

Title:

View of Centre Harbor, New Hampshire

Object Name:

Painting

Object ID:

2021.002

Creator:

Gerry, Samuel Lancaster (1813-1891)Artist

Date:

1847

Description:

Landscape painting, "View of Centre Harbor, New Hampshire," by Samuel L. Gerry (1813-1891). Oil on canvas. Buildings, including large hotel (Senter House) along a road leading down to harbor on right. Two tall trees in left foreground, with church in distance between them. Man and woman standing by stone wall to right of trees. Two cows in right center foreground. Boats on lake. Church across harbor on right. Mountain (Red Hill) on right in distance. Signed "GERRY / 1847" in black paint on rock, left center foreground. Unframed.

Material:

Textile

Dimensions:

H-26.25 W-40.25 D-1 inches

Provenance:

Samuel L. Gerry (1813-1891) submitted this painting to an exhibition at the American Art-Union in 1848. It was won by Charles W. Burr (1820-1852) of Providence, RI, in the organization's annual drawing. It is a romantic, realistic depiction of the community of Centre Harbor on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee, a growing inland New Hampshire port, recreation center, and tourist gateway to the White Mountains. It is a view looking northwest, depicting left to right, the Congregational Church, erected in 1837, and adjacent burying ground; the Senter House, erected in 1825, the gardens stretching down to the edge of Lake Winnipesaukee; and Red Hill on the right, in the distance.

Samuel Lancaster Gerry, son of Reuben W. and Catherine (Lombard) Gerry, was born in 1813 in Boston. Inspired by the work of Boston artists, he was self-taught, first working as an ornamental painter. Gerry was one of a handful of American artists who defined romantic landscape painting in the White Mountains of New Hampshire during the 19th century. A painter of portraits and genre scenes, Gerry was prolific in producing landscape paintings, particularly of the White Mountains, over more than fifty years. He was a founder and president of the Boston Art Club and a leader in the emerging art community during the second half of the 19th century. He died at his home in Roxbury, MA, in 1891. Gerry's work is represented in public and private art collections across the United States.

Credit Line:

Gift of D. Bruce Montgomery

People:

Gerry, Samuel Lancaster (1813-1891)

Subjects:

Center Harbor, NH, Red Hill, Lake Winnipesaukee, Senter House, Cows, Churches, Boats, Boating, Sailboats, Stone walls, Harbors