Lake Nemi

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Lake Nemi

Artist Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823-1880)

Date1856-1857

DimensionsPainting: 39 5/8 × 60 3/8 in. (100.6 × 153.4 cm)
Frame: 55 3/4 × 76 1/4 × 4 1/2 in. (141.6 × 193.7 × 11.4 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott

Object number

1957.46

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 29A

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesGifford, S., European Letters, II, pp. 122, 129, 136, 139 (MSS. in Archives of American Art).

"Foreign Correspondence," The Crayon, IV, 1857, no. 7, p. 219; "Sketchings," V, 1858, no. 1, p. 25; V, no. 2, p. 57; V, no. 4, p. 117; "Art in New Haven, V, no. 9, p. 268.

"Address by W. Whittredge," Gifford Memorial Meeting of the Century Association, New York, 1880, p. 37.

A Memorial Catalogue of the Paintings of Sanford Robinson Gifford, N.A., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1881, no. 107.

Worthington Whittredge, Autobiography, 1905 (reprinted in Brooklyn Museum Journal, I, 1942, p. 57).

Cowdrey, M. B., National Academy of Design Exhibition Record, 1826-1860, New York, 1943, I, p. 182.

19th Century America, Paintings and Sculpture, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970, no. 100, repr.

Boyle, R., American Impressionism, Boston, 1974, repr. p. 50.

Weiss, I., Sanford Gifford (1823-1880), New York, 1977, pp. 145-150, pl. V.E.1 (Garland reprint, Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1968).

Talbot, W., Jasper Cropsey, 1823-1900, New York, 1977, p. 60, (Garland reprint, Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1972).

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, American Paintings, Toledo, 1979, p. 54, pl. 38.

Strickler, Susan E., "American Paintings at the Toledo Museum of Art," Antiques, vol. 116, no. 5, November 1979, p. 1113, repr. (col.). pl. VI.

Soria, Regina, Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century American Artists in Italy 1760-1914, London, 1982, repr. p. 221.

Gerdts, William H., American Impressionism, New York, 1984, p. 13, pl. 3.

Weiss, Ila, Poetic Landscape: the Art and Experience of Sanford R. Gifford, Newark, NY, 1987, pp. 76, 84, 197, 198, 200, 205, 210, 218, 224, 227, 259, 327, repr. p. 196.

Brill, Attlilio, Le citta ritrovate alla ricera dello spirito del luogo, Milan, 1989, repr. pp. 60-61 (col.).

Stebbins, Theodore E., The Lure of Italy: American Artists and the Italian Experience 1760-1914, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1992, no. 62, pp. 296, 298, repr. (col.).

"The Lure of Italy," MFA Today, July/August 1993, repr. p. 5 (col.).

Harvey, Eleanor Jones, The Painted Sketch: American Impressions from Nature, 1830-1880, Dallas, Dallas Museum of Art, 1998, no. 53, pp. 58, 205, repr. p. 207 (col.).

Voorsanger, Catherine Hoover, Art and the Empire City: New York, 1825-1861, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000, no. 36, pp. 128-130 and no. 119, repr. p. 397 (col.).

Avery, Kevin J., Hudson River School Visions: The Landscapes of Sanford R. Gifford, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003, no. 6, pp. 12, 14, 39, 67, 103-104, 106, nos. 11, 108, 110, 124, 133, 140, repr. (col.) p. 105.

Lasser, Ethan, "Sanford Robinson Gifford: Class and Conflict, Color and Light," Plein Air Magazine, December 2005, repr. (col.) p. 40.

Kelly, Franklin, "Turner in America," in Warrell, Ian, ed., J. M. W. Turner, London, Tate, 2007, pp. 237, 249 n49, fig. 44 (col.).

Goldin, Marco, America! Storie di pittura dal Nuovo Mondo, Treviso, Linea d'ombra libri, 2007, no. 92, p. 465, pl. 80, p. 182 (col.).

Mitchell, Mark D., George Inness in Italy, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2011, fig. 14 (col.) p. 33.

Avery, Kevin J. and Donald J. Christensen, An Artist's Legacy and a Dealer's Admiration: Paintings by Sanford Robinson Gifford from Important American Collections, New York, Michael Altman Fine Art & Advisory Services, 2012, repr. (col.) pp. 112-113.

Frederick, Dr. Margaretta, and Jan Marsh, The Poetry in Beauty: The Pre-Raphaelite Art of Marie Spartali Stillman, Seattle, Marquand Books, 2015, p. 126, repr. (col.) fig. 28.

Exhibition HistoryNew York, Century Club, Inaugural Exhibition, 1858.

New York, National Academy of Design, 1858, no. 460.

New Haven, Yale College, Alumni Building, 1858.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Four Centuries of American Art, 1963-1964 (unnumbered catalogue and page numbers).

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 19th Century America, Paintings and Sculpture, Apr. 16-Sept. 7, 1970, no. 100.

New York, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, American Paintings from the Toledo Museum of Art, 1986.

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts; Cleveland Museum of Art; Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, The Lure of Italy: American Artists and the Italian Experience 1760-1914, 1992-1993.

Dallas Museum of Art; Washington, DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art; Williamstown, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, The Painted Sketch: American Impressions from Nature, 1830-1880, 1998-1999.

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art and the Empire City: New York, 1825-1861, 2000-2001, no. 36.

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, Hudson River School Visions: The Landscapes of Sanford R. Gifford, 2003-2004.

Brescia, Museo di Santa Giulia, America! Storie di pittura dal Nuovo Mondo, Nov. 24, 2007-May 4, 2008.

Label TextBetter known for his luminous American landscapes (see The Wilderness in this gallery), Sanford Gifford also painted a number of views of Europe and the Middle East. Many American artists traveled in Europe in order to study the works of the great masters of the past, few examples of which were available in America in the mid-1800s. Gifford visited Lake Nemi near Rome in October of 1856. His description of the location in a letter corresponds exactly to the view he painted: “We were high up above the lake. On one side in the foreground were some picturesque houses and ruined walls—a tall dark cypress, rising out of a rich mass of foliage, cut strongly against the lake, distance, and sky.” Capturing the scene at sunset, Gifford masterfully recorded the subtle effects of atmosphere and light that would become his trademark.