Frank Weston Benson 1862 - 1951

Private Collection, Boston, Massachusetts, 1923 (acquired directly from the artist)
By descent in the family from the above
Vose Galleries, Boston, Massachusetts
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Frank W. Benson and Edmund C. Tarbell: Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Prints, November-December 1938, no. 22, p. 20 (as Long Point Sunset)
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Guild of Boston Artists, 1914-1942, A Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, Miniatures, Watercolors, Prints and Sculpture, October-November 1942

Faith Andrews Bedford, The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson, Boston, 2000, p. 179, illustrated in color p. 5 (as frontispiece)

This painting is in excellent, original condition. Under UV: there is no apparent inpainting.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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A native of Salem, Massachusetts, Frank W. Benson was independent and adventuresome in his youth, often spending his days in the fields, streams and marshes surrounding his family's home. At the age of 12 he was given a boat to further explore the local landscape and refine his budding interest in ornithology. Faith Andrews Bedford writes, "It is only fitting that Benson's first known works in oil were of birds. As a child he had been fascinated by birds and had decided at an early age that he wanted to be an ornithological illustrator. He haunted the halls of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard and pored through the thick volumes in its library" (The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson, Jaffrey, New Hampshire, 2000, p. 19).

In addition to achieving great recognition as a painter of plein air impressionist portraits, Benson also became well known for his sporting subjects, executed during his fishing and shooting trips in Massachusetts, Maine and Canada. Bedford writes, "Benson's paintings done over his long sporting life rank him with the other masters of this great American tradition - that of the active sportsman working en plein air" (The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson, p. 33).

In 1916, Benson made his first trip to The Long Point Company, a private hunting club located on the shore of Lake Erie. At Long Point the artist was overwhelmed by the beauty of the place and the unrivaled shooting it provided. After Sunset (Long Point Sunset) was painted in 1923 and captures four mallards, two male and two female, as they descend upon the glasslike water of Lake Erie amidst a brilliant sunset sky. This painting inspired the 1933 etching titled Sunset at Long Point (Fig. 1).