* George Henry Durrie 1820-1863

Acquired by the present owner, before 1938

According to Martha Young Hutson, “George Henry Durrie was an unusual and appealing artistic talent of the 1840’s and 50’s in America.  His premature death in 1863 at age forty-three ended a career that was an important contribution to a native winter landscape school.  He was one of the few landscape painters who, following the tenets of the Hudson River school, showed unusual talent for the New England winter landscape.  Since his paintings are largely known through ten Currier and Ives lithographs, the story telling purpose of these prints has become confused with the paintings.  Durrie was not a genre artist nor was his skill that of a folk painter.  In fact, he was a self-trained artist of professional capabilities and unusual talent whose natural inclination led him to paint winter scenes around New Haven, Connecticut” (George Henry Durrie (1820-1863) American Winter Landscapist: Renowned Through Currier and Ives, Santa Barbara, California, 1977, p. 19).

Ms. Hutson continues, “Between 1853 and 1857, Durrie was evolving a favorite subject of the isolated country farmhouse or inn located on a snow-covered road with one or two farmers and/or sleigh approaching or leaving.  The road leads the eye diagonally into the picture space.  The main building in the mid-ground is flanked by trees, and beyond it lies a distant, hilly background.  Sometimes the distant hill is recognizable as New Haven’s East or West Rocks.  Frequently the profile of the Mount Carmel range (sometimes called the Sleeping Giant) appears, these hills are north of New Haven.  Drawing his scenes from the countryside around his home, Durrie probably combined various locations and only occasionally painted an actual homestead” (George Henry Durrie (1820-1863): American Winter Landscapist: Renowned Through Currier and Ives, p. 90).