Artist/Maker Thomas Worthington Whittredge (1820 - 1910)

A Forest Stream

ca. 1871

Oil on canvas

Unframed: 34 1/4 × 27 1/8 × 1 1/8 in. (87 × 68.9 × 2.9 cm)
Framed: 47 in. × 39 1/2 in. × 6 in. (119.4 × 100.3 × 15.2 cm)

Collection of Arthur and Eileen Newman, Bequest of Eileen Newman, 2015

2015.33.14

In A Forest Stream, Whittredge depicts woodland scenery—possibly in the Catskills—and experiments with the effects of light. Whittredge's technique incorporates delicate brushstrokes to emphasize the glowing surface of the forest stream. According to the artist’s own account, it was during a visit to the New-York Historical Society in 1859 that Whittredge saw paintings by Thomas Cole and Asher B. Durand, which inspired him to aim to record landscapes not impacted by human endeavors. The example of Durand, in particular, led him to paint forest scenes.

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