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John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society

Catalogue Entry

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Keywords
OP.813
Landscape
Alternate title: Quail Cover
ca. 1888
Oil on canvas
20 x 29 in. (50.8 x 73.7 cm)
Signed lower left: J. H. Twachtman–
The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, Museum purchase, 1937 (937-O-101)
Provenance
Probably (Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman–Weir sale, February 7, 1889, no. 66, as Quail Cover, 20 x 28 1/2 in.);
Howard R. Reed, Canton, Ohio;
to present collection, 1937.
Exhibitions
1889–I Fifth Avenue Art Galleries probably
Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, Paintings in Oil and Pastel by J. Alden Weir and J. H. Twachtman, February 1–7, 1889, no. 66, as Quail Cover, 20 x 28 1/2 in.
1983 Canton Art Institute
Canton Art Institute, Ohio, Impressionism: An American View, February 20–April 3, 1983, no. 59, p. 19, as Landscape.
Literature
New York Herald 1889 probably
"Fair Prices for Pictures: The Twachtman-Weir Sale at the Fifth Avenue Galleries." New York Herald, February 8, 1889, p. 6, as Quail Cover.
New-York Tribune 1889–II probably
"Pictures by Messrs. Weir and Twachtman." New-York Tribune, February 7, 1889, p. 7, as Quail Cover.
Sun 1889–II probably
"Weir and Twachtman Pictures." Sun (New York), February 8, 1889, p. 3, as Quail Cover.
Butler Institute of American Art 1951
Butler Institute of American Art. Catalogue of the Permanent Collection of American Art. Youngstown, Ohio: Butler Institute of American Art, 1951, p. 12, as Landscape.
Hale 1957
Hale, John Douglass. "Life and Creative Development of John H. Twachtman." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1957. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1958, vol. 2, p. 558 (catalogue A, no. 337), as Landscape. (Hale concordance).
Butler Institute of American Art 1979
Butler Institute of American Art. Sixty Years of Collecting American Art: An Index to the Permanent Collection. Youngstown, Ohio: Butler Institute of American Art, 1979, n.p, as Landscape.
Peters 1995
Peters, Lisa N. "John Twachtman (1853–1902) and the American Scene in the Late Nineteenth Century: The Frontier within the Terrain of the Familiar." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, City University of New York, 1995. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International, 1996, vol. 1, p. 237; vol. 2, p. 752 ill. in b/w (fig. 221), as Landscape.
Peters 1999–I
Peters, Lisa N. John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist. Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 1999. Exhibition catalogue (1999 High Museum of Art), p. 74 ill. in b/w, as Landscape.
Commentary

In this scene, stone walls and terracing indicate that the land was cultivated in the past, but the high grass in the foreground suggests that it has been allowed to become overgrown. Whereas Twachtman rendered views of emerging suburbs in the Cincinnati hills, here he depicted a landscape heading in the opposite direction: returning to a more natural state.

This painting was probably the work listed as Quail Cover (20 x 28 1/2 inches) in the catalogue for the February 1889 Twachtman and Julian Alden Weir joint exhibition and sale at the Fifth Avenue Art Galleries. As noted in the New York Tribune: “Among the landscapes is the “Quail Cover,” a picture of quiet, refined coloring.”[1]

The scene, along with Cincinnati Landscape (OP.811), Gray Day (OP.812), and Cincinnati Landscape (OP.814), probably all depict Branchville, where Twachtman stayed with his family in the summer of 1888, near the home there of Weir. He may also worked in Branchville on occasion through the end of the year. 

[1] New-York Tribune 1889–II.