The Life and Art of
Introduction • Life • Art • Gallery • Learn More • Acknowledgments
Artist Brook in Autumn
Samuel L. Gerry (1813–91)
Signed and dated, lower right: “S. L. Gerry / 1858”; inscribed on stretcher: “Glade in Autumnal Woods”
Oil on canvas (29 x 36 in.)
Private collection
Gerry and his colleagues exhibited at the same shows, often had studios in the same buildings, sold their paintings at the same auctions, and frequently stayed in the same New Hampshire hostelries while painting the same scenic spots. Artist’s Brook in North Conway was especially noted for attracting multiple artists. Benjamin Champney, who created several paintings of this scene, wrote in his memoirs of the much-visited spot, “This beautiful little rocky stream, afterwards called ‘Artist’s Brook,’ fascinated us with its sparkle, its amber color, and its gray rocks broken with patches of green moss. Many of our first studies were made there. It was a new phase of nature to us, and it suited our mood.” Gerry painted there often and appears to have called this particular version of the scene Glade in Autumn Woods when he exhibited it, or one like it, in 1868 at the National Academy of Design in New York City.
