{"id":4877,"date":"2018-06-03T18:02:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-03T22:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lizzieborden.org\/CuratorsCorner\/?p=4877"},"modified":"2018-07-03T12:53:27","modified_gmt":"2018-07-03T16:53:27","slug":"a-dunning-landscape-painting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/CuratorsCorner\/2018\/06\/03\/a-dunning-landscape-painting\/","title":{"rendered":"A Dunning Landscape Painting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Spear Dunning (1829-1905), the founder of the so-called \u201cFall River School,\u201d is a painter best known for his opulent still life paintings of fruit, often arranged in elaborate serving pieces and habitually presented on a highly polished table with heavily carved edge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout his lifetime he was lauded for his still life \u2013 today his paintings are eagerly sought after by collectors, galleries, and museums. Deservedly so.<\/span><\/p>\n

But his oeuvre also included seemingly countless portraits of Fall River grandees, coastal marine paintings, and bucolic landscapes, the latter painted in all seasons. In fact, I know of one collector who has the same rural scene painted by Dunning in all four seasons \u2013 they are extraordinary.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 19th<\/sup>century was the golden age of landscape painting in Europe and America; Dunning embraced this movement and produced beautifully rendered pastoral landscapes of exceptional quality, yet they are often overlooked \u2013 and inevitably overshadowed \u2013 by his still life compositions.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am particularly fond of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

This choice example \u2013 gem like, really \u2013 was recently acquired by the FRHS with funds donated by family and friends in memory of the late William F. Nuttall, a long-time FRHS member; a fine tribute to honor his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the painting it is a beauty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Titled Autumn at Medway<\/em>, the piece was painted in 1885 on a wood panel and depicts a scene on the Charles River in Medway, Massachusetts, a town in Norfolk County about forty-seven miles from Fall River, with a population contemporary to the painting of slightly more than 3,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The work is diminutive, 4.5 x 8.5 inches, but do not underestimate its size \u2013 Dunning packed a great deal into it, capturing an intimate scene of couple punting on the Charles, surrounded by multicolored autumn foliage; the mountain evident on the horizon is an artistic liberty.<\/span><\/p>\n

The painting retains its original gilt frame with elaborate composition ornamentation, typical of the period; it has survived in a remarkable state of preservation, which is very often not the case. Frames of this type are notoriously fragile.<\/span><\/p>\n

Discolored varnish and 131 years of surface grime have obscured \u2013 and protected \u2013 the surface of the painting, giving it a muddy appearance. This detail image of the painting will give you an idea of how filthy the surface is.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next up: A trip to the picture conservator for a light cleaning, thus restoring the painting to its former brilliance.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am looking forward to that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Will follow up with \u201cbefore and after\u201d images.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Spear Dunning (1829-1905), the founder of the so-called \u201cFall River School,\u201d is a painter best known for his opulent still life paintings of fruit, often arranged in elaborate serving pieces and habitually presented on a highly polished table with heavily carved edge. Throughout his lifetime he was lauded for his still life \u2013 today …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[35,45,58],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/CuratorsCorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4877"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/CuratorsCorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/CuratorsCorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/CuratorsCorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/CuratorsCorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4877"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/CuratorsCorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4935,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/CuratorsCorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4877\/revisions\/4935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/CuratorsCorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/CuratorsCorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/CuratorsCorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/CuratorsCorner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}