Lot 4016
WILLIAM COVENTRY WALL
AMERICAN, PENNSYLVANIA, PITTSBURGH, 1810-1886
TUSCARORA VALLEY, PENNSYLVANIA
Oil on canvas
Lower left signed and dated: W. C. Wall / 1859; verso titled, signed and dated: TUSCARORA VALLEY, PA / W.C. WALL / 1859 (this is a retracing of the original verso of the canvas)
Catalogue note:
William Coventry Wall was born in London on December 8, 1811 and immigrated to the United States with his family in the early 1820s, where they settled in Mount Pleasant, a small community 45 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
Largely self-taught, W.C. Wall, as he is known, was surrounded by artists, including his father, who had trained as a painter. By the early 1840s, Wall had married and moved to Pittsburgh, busying himself there with several enterprises, including theatrical scene painting, making illustrations of historical sites and events, and portraiture.To further support himself and his young family, he opened a framing and art supply store, which became a gathering place for the city's painters.
In 1845, Wall woke to witness the devastating fire that destroyed most of Pittsburgh that year, including his own store and that of his father-in-law. Sketches made at the scene became paintings and later lithographs, which were widely distributed. Wall's reputation was thus made, and by 1847, his occupation--according to the city directory--indicated that he had successfully transitioned from business owner to landscape painter.
His first sketching trip may have been to rural Fayette County, south of Pittsburgh, with fellow artist Trevor McClurg (1816-1893) in 1853. Later, Wall associated with George Hetzel (1826-1899), leader of what became known as he Scalp Level school in the latter half of the nineteenth century. This group spent their summers escaping the city's dirty industrial neighborhoods to paint en plein air in the nearby countryside of western Pennsylvania.
Source: Westmoreland Museum of American Art online
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Provenance:
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Purchased directly from the artist and by descent to the present owner
Dimensions:
- 30 1/4 x 42 1/4 in. (76.8 x 107.3 cm.), Frame: 35 x 46 1/4 in. (88.9 x 117.5 cm.) Artist Name:
- WILLIAM COVENTRY WALL Medium:
- Oil on canvas Condition:
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This work was restored at the Westmorland Museum of Art in 1986.
The painting has been lined.
There are repairs of old tears one "L" shaped in the center. and the other a straight thin line across the horizon to the right of the trees and just above the dark hill.
There is inpaint scattered in the sky; around the edges of the painting.
(see addition impages of the work taken under uv black light.)
For a detailed condition report please request more information.
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