Painting

Title:

Contoocook (sic) River Sunset

Object Name:

Painting

Date:

1891

Material:

Paint
Paper

Dimensions:

H-1.3 W-4.75 D-0.25 inches

Description:

Painting (not framed) [frame added, 5/29/2014]. Oil on panel. Picture depicts a river and shoreline. On the left shore, there is a main tree that is detailed with a trunk covered in moss. Below are four rocks and the beach that looks like a combination of mud and flattened grass. The right shore is not seen, but a canoe can be seen coming out of a tree's shadow. The sky is reddish on the horizon, but the top is a gray blue color with a faint moon. On the left shoreline is the signature, "EFB 1891". On the back is a paper label, "Academy Board / Frost and Adams / importers of Artists' tube col... / Canvas, Oil Sketching Paper, Millboard / fine bristle and sable brushes / 37 Cornhill and 32 Brattle Street / Boston". Hand-written on the label, "Contook River Sunset". Hand-written on adhesive tape on back, "For Rev + Mrs. Polhemus." and "Mrs Burnham, Painter.".

Provenance:

Painting is signed EFB 1891, with notations on reverse indicating the painter was Mrs. Burnham and that the painting was gifted to Rev. Mrs. Polhemus. The painter has not yet been firmly identified, but could have been Emma F. Burnham (1835-1934; b. Deerfield NH; d. Contoocook) or Eva F. Burnham (1848-1930). Reverend Oscar Polhemus was the cleric at the Methodist Church in Contoocook during the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The painting was offered for sale to the Hopkinton Historical Society by Steven Gunther of Gorham, N.H.; he purchased it at an estate auction approx. 10 years prior.
After acquisition, the Hopkinton Historical Society had the painting cleaned and framed.

Subjects:

Rivers, Canoes, Painting, Oil paintings

People:

Polhemus, Oscar, Burnham

Item Number:

2014.0014

Accession Number:

2014.0014

Type of Material:

Objects

Copyright Statement:

For information regarding copyright, permissions, and reproductions contact the Hopkinton Historical Society

Credit Line:

Hopkinton Historical Society Purchase

Participating Organization:

Hopkinton Historical Society