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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.1006
Horseneck Falls, Greenwich, Connecticut
Alternate titles: Niagara River Rapids; The Brook; The Brook, Greenwich, Conn.; The Brook, Greenwich, Connecticut; Woodland Stream in Spring
ca. 1893–94
Oil on canvas
25 1/8 x 25 1/8 in. (63.8 x 63.8 cm)
Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut, Gift of the Fine Arts Collection of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (2002.1.145)
Provenance
Dr. Charles Cary, Buffalo;
to his wife, Evelyn Rumsey Cary, Buffalo, by 1907;
to Dr. Charles Cary's sister, Mrs. Laurence Dana Rumsey, Lewiston, New York;
by descent to Grace Rumsey Smith, Buffalo;
(Christie's, New York, December 7, 1984, lot 228, as Niagara River Rapids);
to private collection, Buffalo;
(Christie's, New York, May 25, 1989, lot 205);
to The Fine Arts Collection of the Hartford Steam Boiler and Inspection Company, Hartford, Connecticut, 1989;
to present collection, 2002.
Exhibitions
1907 Buffalo Fine Arts Academy
Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, New York, A Catalogue of a Loan Collection of Paintings Owned by Citizens of Buffalo, October 10–24, 1907, no. 170, as The Brook, lent by Mrs. Charles Cary.
1913–I Albright Art Gallery
Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Paintings and Pastels by the Late John H. Twachtman, March 11–April 2, 1913, no. 20, as The Brook, Greenwich, Conn. lent by Mrs. Charles Cary.
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 Horseneck Falls, Greenwich, Connecticut. Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 17–September 16, 2001; Denver Art Museum, October 27, 2001–January 20, 2002.
2013 Greenwich Historical Society
Greenwich Historical Society, Connecticut, The New Spirit and the Cos Cob Art Colony: Before and After the Armory Show, October 9, 2013–January 12, 2014. (Leeds 2013), as Horseneck Falls, Greenwich, Connecticut.
Literature
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. 437 (catalogue G, no. 102), as The Brook, Greenwich, Connecticut. (Hale concordance).
Christie's, New York 1984–III
Important American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture of the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries. Auction catalogue, December 7, 1984. New York: Christie's, 1984, lot 228 ill., as Niagara River Rapids.
Christie's, New York 1989–I
18th-, 19th-, and 20th-Century American Pictures and Sculpture. Auction Catalogue, May 25, 1989. New York: Christie's, 1989, lot 205 ill. in color, as Horseneck Falls, Greenwich, Connecticut.
Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company 1991
Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company. Connecticut Masters: The Fine Arts and Antiques Collections of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company. Hartford, Conn.: The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, 1991, p. 168 ill. in color, as Horseneck Falls, Greenwich, Connecticut.
Larkin 1998
Larkin, Susan G. "On Home Ground: John Twachtman and the Familiar Landscape." American Art Journal 29 (1998), pp. 81 ill. in b/w, 83, as Horseneck Falls, Greenwich, Connecticut.
Larkin 2001–I
Larkin, Susan G. The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore. New York: National Academy of Design in association with Yale University, 2001. Exhibition catalogue (2001 National Academy of Design), pp. 196, 198 ill. in color, 199, as Horseneck Falls, Greenwich, Connecticut.
Larkin 2001–II
Larkin, Susan G. "The Cos Cob Art Colony." American Art Review 13 (February 2001), p. 109 ill. in color, as Horseneck Falls, Greenwich, Connecticut.
Leeds 2013
Leeds, Valerie Ann. The New Spirit and the Cos Cob Art Colony: Before and After the Armory Show. Greenwich, Conn.: Greenwich Historical Society, 2013. Exhibition catalogue (2013 Greenwich Historical Society), pp. 4 ill. in color, 9, 37, as Horseneck Falls, Greenwich, Connecticut.
Commentary

This image of a rapidly flowing brook rounding a bend, with willow trees at measured intervals along its banks, was first owned by Dr. Charles Cary, the Buffalo physician who, with his wife Evelyn Rumsey Cary, provided Twachtman with accommodations in 1893, when he created a series of paintings of Niagara Falls. In 1907 Evelyn Cary lent the painting to an exhibition at the Buffalo Fine Arts Center, where it was shown as The Brook. When she sent it six years later to the Twachtman exhibition at the New York School of Applied Design, it was listed as The Brook, Greenwich, Connecticut. The painting was sold at Christie’s in 1984 as Niagara River Rapids, but it is more likely a painting of Horseneck Brook on the artist’s property in Greenwich.

Selected Literature

From Larkin 2001

In Horseneck Falls, Greenwich, Connecticut (fig. 133), for example, the rivulet is edged by two trees whose small size, symmetrical form, and careful spacing expose the gardener’s hand. The brookside landscape, neither wilderness nor farmland, epitomizes nature and culture artfully balanced for human pleasure. It is in a word, a garden.