George Henry Durrie

Private Collection (acquired circa 1880)

Private Collection (by descent)

Acquired from the above in 2015 by the present owner

Martha Young Hutson, "George Henry Durrie: An American Winter Landscape Painter," Antiques, vol. 103, February 1973, pp. 300, 302, fig. 1, illustrated

National Gallery of Art, American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II, Washington, DC, 1999, p. 151, no. 4.

Nancy C. Muller, Paintings and Drawings at the Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont, 1976, p. 60

According to Martha Hutson, “Durrie painted the sleighs of the farmers and merchants of New England towns. The earliest dated winter scene now known is Sleighs Arriving at the Inn, 1851. This canvas presents a flat, colorful design. Even this early in his career, Durrie attended all the elements that were to make up his winter scenes, yet without having attained the ability to define them ... The whimsy of detail and the general enthusiasm of the scene are typically Durrie” (George Henry Durrie (1820-1863): American Winter Landscapist, Renowned Through Currier and Ives, Santa Barbara, California, 1977, p. 49). Durrie’s earliest known works from the 1850s are defined by flat, somewhat primitive features and document the evolution of his unique style.