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

Catalogue Entry

enlarge
Additional Images
Canal Scene, Holland, 1881 (OP.601). Fig. 1. detail from letter, Twachtman, Cincinnati, to Julian Alden Weir, March 5, 1882, Weir Family Papers, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
Fig. 1. detail from letter, Twachtman, Cincinnati, to Julian Alden Weir, March 5, 1882, Weir Family Papers, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
Related Work
loading
Keywords
OP.601
Canal Scene, Holland
Alternate titles: Canal, Holland; Water Mill; Water Mill, Holland; Waterway, Holland
1881
Oil on canvas
9 3/4 x 13 in. (24.8 x 33 cm)
Signed and dated lower center: J. H. Twachtman 1881
Private collection, New York
Provenance
(Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman–Weir sale, February 7, 1889, no. 24, as Water Mill, Holland, 14 x 10 in.);
(David David, Inc., Philadelphia, by 1977);
John T. Dorrance, Jr.;
to (Sotheby's, New York, October 18, 1989, Dorrance sale, lot 51, as Canal Scene, Holland);
to (David Findlay Jr., Inc., New York, 1989);
to present collection, 1992.
Exhibitions
1882–II Society of American Artists probably
American Art Gallery, New York, Fifth Annual Exhibition, Society of American Artists, May 1–20, 1882, no. 187, as Canal, Holland.
1886 J. Eastman Chase's Gallery probably
J. Eastman Chase's Gallery, Boston, Paintings and Pastels by John H. Twachtman, January 19–30, 1886, no. 8, as Water Mill.
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. 24, as Water Mill, Holland, 10 x 14 in.
1982 Federal Reserve System
Federal Reserve System, Washington, D.C., The Hague School and Its American Legacy, April 19–June 11, 1982, no. 20, as Waterway, Holland. Traveled to: Norton Gallery and School of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, 1982.
Literature
Sun 1889–II
"Weir and Twachtman Pictures." Sun (New York), February 8, 1889, p. 3, as Water Mill, Holland.
Antiques 1977–III
Antiques 112 (December 1977), p. 1047 ill. in b/w, as Canal Scene, Holland.
Sotheby's New York 1989
The Collection of John T. Dorrance Jr.: Important Impressionist, Modern, American, and European Paintings. Auction catalogue, October 18, 1989. New York: Sotheby's, 1989, lot 51 ill. in color, as Canal Scene, Holland.
David Findlay 1990
American Paintings, 1850–1940. New York: David Findlay Jr., 1990. Exhibition catalogue, p. 7 ill. in color, as Canal Scene, Holland.
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. 145; vol. 2, p. 665 ill. in b/w (fig. 120), as Canal Scene, Holland.
Commentary

In Dordrecht on his honeymoon in 1881, Twachtman was visited by the artist George Clements, who recorded this work as among those Twachtman showed to the well-known Hague school painter Anton Mauve. After his return to Cincinnati, Twachtman sent the painting to Julian Alden Weir in New York. This it is clear from a letter to Weir of March 5, 1882, in which he drew a sketch of the painting (fig. 1) and asked Weir to exhibit it either at the Society of American Artists or the National Academy of Design. He noted as well that his father-in-law, Dr. John Scudder, had taken a “fancy” to it. Below the image he wrote "$175."

This painting was probably shown as Water Mill in Twachtman's 1886 exhibition at J. Eastman Chase's Gallery, Boston, as well as Water Mill Holland (10 x 14 inches) in the February 1889 sale of the work of Julian Alden Weir and Twachtman at the Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York (see Exhibitions) (where it sold for $40). The scene is related in its image of a waterway receding to a farm with trees at the right to Landscape with Houses and Stream (OP.600) and Landscape (OP.602), but each of these images is unique.  Here the waterway is wide and Twachtman emphasized the reflections from the the trees in the water, rather than calling attention to the buildings in the left distance that blend in with the foliage. Due to the long shadows and a cooler light than in OP.600, the time of day seems to be late afternoon.

By contrast with Landscape with Houses and Stream, where the scene is in sunlight, here it is in viewed through the softer, more glowing light of late afternoon. The trees and their shadows are more prominent in the composition and the buildings are blended into the foliage in the distance.   

Subsequent to its sale in 1889, the painting was unlocated until 1977.