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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.822
Branchville
Alternate title: Landscape, Branchville
ca. 1888–89
Oil on canvas
60 x 80 in. (152.4 x 203.2 cm)
Ben Aryeh Family
Image: Roz Akin
Provenance
Julian Alden Weir;
to J. Alden Twachtman, the artist's son, Greenwich, Connecticut, by 1957;
to his son Dr. Eric Twachtman, Essex, Connecticut;
to (Spanierman, by 1966);
to Mr. and Mrs. Harry Spiro;
gift to Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, 1979;
to (Christie’s, New York, December 2, 2004, lot 57);
to (Spanierman, 2004);
to present collection, 2011.
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. 33, as Landscape, Branchville, lent by Dr. Eric Twachtman, Essex, Connecticut.
1968 Spanierman
Ira Spanierman, New York, John Henry Twachtman, 1853–1902: An Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels, February 3–24, 1968, no. 13, as Branchville.
2006 Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter," May 4–June 24, 2006. (Nelson 2006); (Parkes 2006); (Peters 2006–I); (Peters 2006–II); (Peters 2006–III); (Peters 2006–IV), no. 26, as Branchville, shown only in New York. Traveled to: Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut, July 13–October 29, 2006.
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. 377), as Branchville. (Hale concordance).
Art News 1968
"Reviews and Previews." Art News 67 (March 1968), p. 56, as Branchville.
Columbus Museum of Art 1988
The American Collections: Columbus Museum of Art. Columbus, Ohio: Columbus Museum of Art, 1988, p. 265, as Branchville.
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. 253; vol. 2, p. 784 ill. in b/w (fig. 257), as Branchville.
Cummings 2000
Cummings, Hildegard. "Art and Nature in the Landscapes of Nod." In A Connecticut Place: Weir Farm—An American Painter's Rural Retreat Art and Nature in the Landscapes of Nod, by Nicolai Cikovsky Jr. et al. Wilton, Conn.: Weir Farm Trust in collaboration with the National Park Service, Weir Farm National Historic Site, 2000 (2000 Weir Farm Trust), pp. 85–86 ill. in b/w (fig. 77), 110, as Branchville.
Christie's, New York 2004
American Paintings. Auction catalogue, December 2, 2004. New York: Christie's, 2004, lot 57 ill. in color, as Branchville.
Peters 2006–IV
Peters, Lisa N. "Catalogue." In John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter", by Lisa N. Peters. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2006. Exhibition catalogue (2006 Spanierman), pp. 130–31 ill. in color, as Branchville.
Commentary

Branchville is the artist’s largest known painting (slightly larger than Arques-la-Bataille—OP.731). In spite of its size, the work seems a plein-air sketch, conveying Twachtman's immediate response to the scene before him. The view has been identified as that looking west toward the hills from the front door of Julian Alden Weir’s home in Branchville, Connecticut. In the work, Twachtman flattened the perspective, creating movement across the picture plane with the curve of the road stretching up to the high horizon line. His focus was, nonetheless, on the foreground, which widens outward and is marked by the tree that rises visually above the hills. He thus emphasized that his attention was focused on what was near at hand, and on looking out at the landscape, rather than on traveling into it. In the painting, he expressed a sense of contentment in a familiar view, derived from one's home. In a pastel, Tree by a Road (P.816), he reduced the scene to its essential features: the tree and the road, summarizing what he associated most with this viewpoint. 

This painting belonged to Weir, who seems to have returned it to the artist’s son Alden, by 1957. The painting was inherited by Alden’s son Eric, who lent it to the Cincinnati Art Museum in 1966.