Hartford (Industry)
Artist
William Gedney Bunce
(1840 - 1916)
Artist
Louis Orr
(American, 1879 - 1966)
Datec. 1910
MediumOil on panel
Dimensions124 1/4 x 64 1/4 in.
ClassificationsOil Painting
Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Historical Society by transfer of a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Lewtan and Family in memory of Mr. Lewtan's brother, Robert Lewtan
Object number2009.116.2
DescriptionThe subject of this enormous painting, originally commissioned for the Garde Hotel in downtown Hartford, is an easily recognizable Hartford city scene. Although Bunce painted this artwork in a style consistent with his scenes of Venice, it is specifically a turn of the century portrait of the major Hartford buildings downtown. He and Orr chose to create a fantastical composite of the key Hartford buildings arranged along the Connecticut River rather than duplicate the contemporary skyline. Bunce admired JMW Turner, the romantic English artist known for his atmospheric landscapes, and thus these two paintings were inspired also by Turner's scenes of Venice. Because Bunce preferred a palette of brown, orange, and deep yellow, his work does not conform to the more brightly hued late nineteenth-century Impressionist painters. He preferred a more subdued, more subtle color spectrum. This stylistic choice links him more directly to the American Barbizon painters, active in the 1860s and 70s. This painting remains among the largest and most ambitious ever painted of the city of Hartford.
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