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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
P.820
Chestnuts
ca. 1888–95
Pastel on paper
15 x 19 1/2 in. (38.1 x 49.5 cm)
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., Gift of John Gellatly (1929.6.136)
Provenance
(Milch);
to John Gellatly;
gift to present collection, 1929.
Exhibitions
1966 Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum, John Henry Twachtman: A Retrospective Exhibition, October 7–November 20, 1966. (Exhibition catalogue: Baskett 1966); (Exhibition catalogue: Boyle 1966–I), no. 105, as Chestnuts, lent by the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
2001 National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design, New York, The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore, February 13–May 13, 2001. (Larkin 2001–I), as Chestnuts, shown only in New York. Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 17–September 16, 2001; Denver Art Museum, October 27, 2001–January 20, 2002.
Literature
Smithsonian Institution 1933
Smithsonian Institution. Catalogue of American and European Paintings in the Gellatly Collection. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1933, p. 18, as Chestnuts.
Smithsonian Institution 1954
Smithsonian Institution. Catalogue of American and European Paintings in the Gellatly Collection. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1954, p. 16, as Chestnuts.
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. 586 (catalogue A, no. 924), as Chestnuts. (Hale concordance).
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. 269; vol. 2, p. 821 ill. in b/w (fig. 297), as Chestnuts.
Commentary

Using color sparingly on an oatmeal paper support, Twachtman consolidated spatial element in this Branchville image, bringing together the near rocks that form a small rise with the more distant hills. The title, which may refer to the trees, does not appear in exhibition listings during the artist's lifetime. This pastel was probably in the artist's estate when it was sold by Milch Gallery to John Gellatly, who held it until 1929, when it was part of the gift of his collection to the Smithsonian.