Signed lower left: Charles Wilson Knapp (1823-1900)
American
Oil on canvas, original frame
33” x 53”
Charles Wilson Knapp was born in Philadelphia in 1823 where he lived and exhibited for most of his career. Knapp traveled and painted extensively in New England but seems always to have returned to the Susquehanna River Valley and Delaware Water Gap. There he found his most favored subjects – likely including this river view. His compositions are characteristically expansive yet serene in their depiction of the American landscape. Knapp’s work can be placed firmly in the mainstream of the Hudson River School both philosophically and aesthetically.
Knapp first exhibited his work at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1857 and at the Pennsylvania Academy during the 1870s and 1880s. Examples of his work can be found today in the collections of Pennsylvania Academy and several New England institutions.
The painting is in excellent overall condition and has been professionally relined on a modern stretcher. It is presented in a period gilt frame that is likely original to the painting.
SOLD
