Arthur Burdett Frost, A Close Game Between the Squire and the Postmaster
Arthur Burdett Frost (1851-1928) Published: at least twice, as a magazine centerfold, and
in a contemporary book about the artist Date/Period: Circa 1902
Measurement: Frame: 21.5" x 15.5"; view: 18" x 11.75"
Material: Oil on academy board
Condition: Fine, cleaned, and stabilized by Tom Yost. modern frame
Note: There are both watercolor and oil versions of this composition, probably because
of its importance to the artist’s body of work. The oil has slight differences in detail and
most notably, more floor space along the lower edge of the painting.
N.B. The composition of the oil is slightly different/larger than the illustration, this is
evident if you look at the signature and lower right corner where the boxes come up to
the border of the image, whereas they extend further in the painting.
Publications: Centerfold for Collier’s Illustrated Weekly December 20, 1902, Vol. 30,
no. 12, pp. 11-12. Reproduced as a full-page illustration with related poem on opposing
page in Wallace Irwin, A Book of Drawings by A. B. Frost, 1904, New York. This book
had at least two editions; one was published by Collier’s and the other, Fox & Duffield.
This is the same composition that was published in Collier’s Weekly magazine, e.g., the
watercolor version
Additional Information: Depicted is a cast of characters playing checkers in a general
store. Noteworthy is the Frost’s often-repeated hunter perches on the countertop at right
with his brace of rabbits and rifle leaning against the counter. His faithful spotted hound
sleeps on the floor at the left. Frost painted a series of these diorama-like country store
scenes just after the turn of the twentieth century. Some of the same characters turn up
repeatedly, notably the checker player at right with his jutting beard. Perhaps they were
associates of the artist, who at that time lived on a farm in Convent, New Jersey, near
Morristown; he actively participated in annual shows at the Pennsylvania Academy of
the Fine Arts. Frost’s hunting and rural genre themes were incredibly popular in the day
and continue as such today; with pages from the magazines and the Frost book sold
separately online as “prints.”
Arthur Burdett Frost: The artist was one of the pre-eminent illustrators of the so-called Golden Age of American Illustration. Although largely self-taught, he studied briefly
under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and with William
Merritt Chase at his Shinnecock, Long Island, summer school; the latter deemed him to
be a genius. During his long career, Frost illustrated close to 100 books and worked
prolifically for the leading American magazines and newspapers, including Harper’s
Weekly, Life, Collier’s Weekly, and Century. He was a member of the Tile Club and the
Society of Illustrators. He is represented in many museums, including the Sterling and
Francine Clark Art Institute, Shelburne Museum, National Gallery, New Britain Museum
of American Art, New-York Historical Society, Parrish Art Museum, Fine Arts Museum of
San Francisco, Brandywine River Museum, Delaware Art Museum, Museum of Fine
Arts Boston, and the Princeton University Art Museum.
$14,000.00
1292-4
Paintings, Pair, Mrs. Susan M. Waters, Landscapes Featuring Cows and Sheep
Both signed, “Mrs. Susan M. Waters”, one dated 1885 Date/Period: 1885
Measurement: 52" x 36.25" each
Material: Oil on canvas, One of the original stretchers retains label of Janentzky & Co.,
1125 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
Condition: Excellent condition save for a trivial small three-corner tear in cloud
Additional Information: Cows and sheep on a hillock adjacent to a stream before a
mountain vista and pleasant clouded blue sky.
Susan (Moore) Waters, a self-taught artist (1823-1900) was born in Binghamton, New
York, her family moved to Friendsville, Pennsylvania where she was raised. Albeit self-
taught she enjoyed and demonstrated enough talent and skill to earn her tuition in
seminary school by producing natural history drawings for one of her instructors.
During her artistic career of nearly 60 years, her oeuvre included two different bodies
or work; she is well-known for her early naively-rendered portraits. Waters would
eventually become a successful still-life and animal painter, displaying a level of
proficiency rarely achieved by folk painters. Her highly accomplished still-life paintings
and animal pictures were in demand as fashionable parlor ornaments.
Mrs. Waters exhibited in the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia; her work is
represented in the collections of the New York State Historical Association, Wiltshire
College, Newark Museum, Cortland County Historical Society, and the Arnot Art
Museum among others.
$24,500.00 the pair
1353-28
Antique Hudson River Valley School Painting, The Kosciusko Monument at West Point
Attributed to Edmund C. Coates (1816-1871)
The painting, A View of West Point and the Kosciusko Monument, mounted within a gilt frame,
shows the gated Kosciusko Monument at the upper left, with the secondary focus being the
Hudson River dotted with sailboats and a steamer, and a tertiary focus…two women strolling in
the foreground as sheep graze to their right. Kosciuszko's Monument honors Polish General
Tadeusz Kosciuszko at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
Kosciuszko designed the defenses of the West Point garrison (1778–1780) during the height of
the Revolutionary War, when George Washington considered West Point to be the most
important military post in America. The pedestal and shaft of the monument was first proposed
in 1825 by John Latrobe and was dedicated in 1828.
The painting was exhibited at the U.S. Department of State, Art in Embassies Program.
(Minor retouch lined and remounted on newer stretcher. Frame: 32" x 24.25" view: 27.25" x 19.5")
$20,850.00
1148-2
Winter Scene, Children at Play
Wilhelm Meyerheim (1815 to 1882)
Dated 1854
German
Oil on canvas
Wilhelm Meyerheim was born in Danzig, Germany (now Gdansk, Poland); eventually settling in Berlin, working there until his death. His father, a talented portrait painter, provided him with his early training before he studied in Danzig, eventually continuing his education at the Academy in Berlin. His works suggest that he spent time sketching the peasantry in the countryside's of Hesse and Tyrol. The artist soon became popular painter - creating scenes of everyday outdoor life, simple activities which often included his favorite subject's, children and horses; winter scenes, often with the same old tree as depicted herein-silhouetted against the winter sky. The work has be lined and stretched on a modern strainer and is mounted within a period frame. Extremely minor fill mostly confined to outermost edges. Dimensions: 25.5 by 31.75: framed; 21 by 27.5" sight-size.
$14,950
786-9
Antique Painting, Hudson River Valley Landscape by James B. Hope (1818-1892)
Lake George, NY from Tongue Mountain, looking northeast to Huletts landing
Oil on canvas, original stretcher and gilt frame
James Hope was born November 29, 1818/19 in Scotland. After moving to the United
States, he became a noted portrait, landscape, and historical genre painter; he served
the Union Army during the Civil War. After living most of his life in Vermont, he moved to
Watkins Glen, New York in 1872 where he built a studio and art gallery; devoting the
last twenty years of his life as artist laureate of the water and wind-hewn geologic
formations found in the vicinity, especially Rainbow Falls. He was also one of the many
artists who painted in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
(Extremely minor scattered fill; Frame: 49.25" x 35"; sight: 40" x 25.75")
$11,750.00
1039-62
Portrait, Franklin Pierce, American School Date/Period: 1850-1860
Measurement: Frame: 15.25" x 13.25"; view: 4.75" x 6.75"
Material: Oil paint on sheet copper
Condition: Excellent
Additional Information: A handsome images of Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 –
October 8, 1869) who was the 14th president of the United States (1853–1857).
$8,350.00
232-437
George Lafayette Clough, (1824-1901) Waiting for the Catch, Painting
Auburn, New York,
Oil on canvas
George Lafayette Clough was a notable landscape painter of the 19th Century; he was born in Auburn, New York. He was essentially self-taught but studied under Charles Loring Elliott from whom he received much training. Clough traveled to Europe to study and spent time in Italy, Holland, and Germany during the 1850s. John Lafayette Clough was a member of the Brooklyn Brush and Palette Club and exhibited at the National Academy, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Brooklyn Art Association, Boston Art Club, The Cosmopolitan Art Association and others. (The painting is lined; mounted on new stretcher; frame: 43.5 x 41.5"; view: 24 x 36")
$6,650.00
659-171
Antique Painting, Adam, and Eve in the Garden of Eden, After Thomas Cole
Anonymous
Date/Period: 1830-1860
Measurement: frame-35" x 2 9.5" x 2.25"; site- 28.25" x 22.25"
Material: Oil on canvas
Condition: The work remains on original stretcher within original gilt frame; relined,
lightly cleaned, extremely minor touches, overall excellent condition.
Additional Information: This outstanding work displays both the folk and academic
aesthetic, it is a copy of Thomas Cole’ s [English-born, American, Hudson River School
Painter, 1801-1848] original work, painted in 1828, entitled Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden, now resides at the Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth, Texas;
collection of Ima Hogg.
$5,600
1280-1
Painting, Lake George, Hudson River Valley School
Anonymous, circa 160-1870
Oil on canvas
Late summer scene, sidewheeler, sail boats and village in the distance
(Wax lined, extremely minor in-painting; housed within gilt frame; frame: 27.25" x 19.25"; view: 21.75" x 13.75")
$4,825.00
1039-44
American Allegorical Painting, Traditional Hudson River Valley Style
Symbolical Scene, Anonymous Date/Period: Circa 1860
Measurement: 43.5 by 33.25” frame, 35.5 by 25.25” sight-size
Material: Oil on canvas
Condition: Excellent condition; mounted on original stretcher, original gold gilt
frame.
Additional Information: A riparian scene, at center is an island with cherubim above
stone stairs leading to a cave with goddess and urn of flames; human figures and
swans at right of stairs…a lone swan on beach, bathers on island shore. A very
individualistic picture. The lighting is almost Turner-erian. We do not recognize the
subject at all, but it seems almost operatic. The cave imagery is almost too specific to
not to be based on some literary or musical source. Another thought…is Fingal's Cave,
Staffa, [Isle of Staffa, United Kingdom] but this does not explain the various figures the
boat etc. See Isle of the Dead, Arnold Bocklin; Bocklin's painting is later. Researching
the possible sources of inspiration that might yield something. We present this picture
as simply a nice painting!
$2,150.00
754-26
18th Century Dutch Watercolor, Travelers, Herdsman
Anonymous
Watercolor on paper, brilliant color
Drovers driving cattle and sheep, a man approaches a thatched roof dwelling by
crossed a stream on footbridge perhaps to arrange lodging, beautifully rendered trees
and sky. Excellent condition with extremely minor light water spotting/staining at top
center margin, else fine. (Frame: 26" x 22"; view: 16.25" x 20.25")
$1,450.00
786-14
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