John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society
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Keywords
OP.905
Spring Landscape
Alternate title: Early Spring
ca. 1890–91
Oil on panel
15 3/4 x 18 1/2 in. (40 x 47 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman–
Private collection
Exhibitions
1949 Milch probably
Milch Galleries, New York, Paintings by John H. Twachtman, November 14–December 3, 1949, no. 15, as Early Spring.
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. 44, p. 90 ill. in b/w, as Spring Landscape, lent by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
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. 559 (catalogue A, no. 375), as Spring Landscape. (Hale concordance).
Phillips 1973
Phillips, Dorothy W. A Catalogue of the Collection of American Paintings in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Vol. 2, Painters born from 1850 to 1910. Washington, D.C.: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1973, p. 12, as Spring Landscape.
Pierce 1976
Pierce, Patricia Jobe. The Ten. Concord, N.H.: Rumford, 1976, p. 178 ill. in b/w, as Spring Landscape.
Christie's, New York 2008
American Paintings. Auction catalogue, December 4, 2008. New York: Christie's, 2008, lot 43 ill. in color, as Spring Landscape.
Christie's, New York 2010–I
American Paintings. Auction catalogue, May 20, 2010. New York: Christie's, 2010, lot 54 ill. in color, as Spring Landscape.
Peters 2021–II
Peters, Lisa N. Life and Art: The Greenwich Paintings of John Henry Twachtman. Cos Cob, Conn.: Greenwich Historical Society, 2021. Exhibition catalogue (2022 Greenwich Historical Society), pp. 29 ill. in color (fig. 19), 30, as Spring Landscape.
Commentary

Here Twachtman depicted a view looking northwest from the east side of Round Hill Road, toward the front facade of his Greenwich home, with the family’s barn visible in the right distance. The painting was created between 1890 and 1892, given the presence of the central chimney on the older (eastern) section of the dwelling. Twachtman’s addition to the home is at the left, featuring a higher and narrower profile.

The painting was perhaps intended by Twachtman as a counterpart to another work titled Spring Landscape (OP.904). Both are in oil on panel and exactly the same size. The tree that is prominent at the right here (probably a maple) is on the left in Spring Landscape (OP.904), in which the road extends behind the house, whereas here it is on a diagonal in front of the house. Taking the reverse perspective enabled Twachtman to consider his different responses to his home that were the result of  where he stood and the feelings that particular vantage points evoked. Here the home appears more distant, a place to see in passing, by contrast with his view toward its north facade, where it draws the viewer in and seems more inviting. 

In both works, Twachtman used a method in oil that relates to his use of pastels in the late 1880s, consisting of pastel colors layered with a loose brush over a toned ground.

This painting was owned by James Parmelee (1855–1931), a Cleveland businessman who was a benefactor of the Smithsonian Institution and one of the founders of Case Western University. It was bequeathed to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1941 and deaccessioned in 2010.