1893
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
The Home of the Heron is a 1893 oil by George Inness, a Hudson River School Movement work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
The painting shows a serene landscape with a river and trees. It's a quiet scene with soft colors. The artist focused on the emotional impact of nature, not just its appearance, which is evident in the simple composition. The artist used everyday scenes to convey feelings. He wanted to evoke emotion in the viewer. To learn more about this style, look up the technique of glazing.
The landscape painter George Inness once explained, “The true purpose of the painter is simply to reproduce in other minds the impression which a scene has made upon him . . . to awaken an emotion.” Inness sought, particularly in his later years, to record not so much the appearance of nature as its poetry. To achieve this, he limited his subject matter to, in his words, “rivers, streams, the rippling brook, the hillside, the sky, the clouds.” For half a century, the artist captured these moisture-laden subjects in all seasons, during all hours of the day and night. First he made small, quick…
Estate of the artist (sale, Fifth Avenue Galleries, New York, February 12-14, 1895, no. 69, as "The Sun's Last Reflection"); E.W. Bass, 1895; Emerson McMillin, New York, to 1911; Knoedler & Co., New York, 1911; Reinhardt Galleries, Chicago, 1911; sold to Edward B. Butler, Chicago, 1911; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1911.
New York, American Fine Arts Society, Exhibition of the Paintings Left by the Late George Inness, Dec. 27, 1894, no. 34. New York, Lotos Club, Exposition of Paintings from the Collection of Mr. Emerson McMillin, Mar. 29–31, 1902, no. 13. Chicago, Henry Reinhardt Galleries, An Exhibition of Eighteen Pictures by the American Master of Landscape Painting, the late George Inness, N.A., 1911, no. 3. Austin, Texas, University Art Museum, University of Texas, The Paintings of George Inness (1844–1894), 1965–1966, no. 122, ill. Springfield, Illinois State Museum, Nineteenth–Century American…
Read the full account in the museum source.
George Inness (May 1, 1825 – August 3, 1894) was an American landscape painter. Now recognized as one of the most influential American artists of the nineteenth century, Inness was influenced by the Hudson River School…
See the richer artist page
