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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.723
On Normandy River
Alternate titles: A Normandy River; Normandy River
ca. 1884
Oil on canvas
20 x 10 1/2 in. (50.8 x 26.7 cm)
Stamped lower left: Twachtman Sale [1903 estate sale]
Location unknown
Provenance
(American Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman estate sale, March 24, 1903, lot 9);
to John Harsen Rhoades;
to his wife, Mrs. John Harsen Rhoades, 1906;
to (Babcock, by 1938);
to (Knoedler, by 1943).
Exhibitions
1903 Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, American Paintings, January 31, 1903 and following days, no. 60, as A Normandy River.
1905 Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of American Paintings from the Collection of John Harsen Rhoades, Esq., December 23, 1905 and following days, no. 60, as A Normandy River.
1943 Babcock probably
Babcock Galleries, New York, Tonalists and Impressionists, September 20–October 16, 1943, no. 12, as Normandy River.
Literature
New-York Tribune 1903–I
"Art Exhibitions: The Twachtman, Colman and Burritt Collections." New-York Tribune, March 21, 1903, p. 9, as Normandy River.
New-York Tribune 1903–II
"Twachtman Pictures, $16,610: Former Pupils Applaud Sales of Favorite Canvases." New-York Tribune, March 25, 1903, p. 9, as On Normandy River.
Sun 1903–II
"Twachtman Pictures, $16,610." Sun (New York), March 25, 1903, p. 3, as Normandy River.
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. 485 (catalogue G, no. 504), as Normandy River. (Hale concordance).
Commentary

Included with the title of On Normandy River in the artist's 1903 estate sale, this painting is most likely a view of Arques-la-Bataille, where Twachtman spent the summer of 1884. The large tree towering over the hills is probably one of the old-growth beech trees that even today can be seen in the countryside (see OP.722). In the work, Twachtman may have gazed at a low angle across the surface of one of the region's narrow rivers to explore the convergence in its surface of reflections from both the sky and land. 

On Normandy River sold from Twachtman’s estate sale to the prominent collector of American paintings: John Harsen Rhoades (1838–1906), a dry-goods businessman and banker, who was the founder and president of the Savings Banks Association of the State of New York, as as well a founder of the Society of Art Collectors (with William T. Evans, Alexander Humphreys, and Frederic Bonner). At the time Rhoades purchased this painting, he already had another work by Twachtman in his collection, The River Front (identity unknown). Rhoades included the present painting in exhibition of his collection at the Lotos Club in 1905. 

Selected Literature

From New-York Tribune 1903–I

There are a few of his earlier pictures here, the delightful sea piece, “Near Ostend” [OP.610], painted in 1881; the “Normandy River” and “The Windmill—Holland,” which show that he was still satisfied with the limitations of studio light. These pictures make their appeal through delicate drawing and excellences of workmanship in general; they have a savor of originality, but in atmospheric quality they do not go beyond the ordinary standard of the day.