Jeffrey Tillou Antiques

"Pro Patria" by John Frederick Kensett - Price Upon Request

John Frederick Kensett  (1816-1872) 
American, Lived/Active: New York/Connecticut
Unsigned, ca. 1861. 
"Pro Patria" 
Oil on canvas 
12" x 10"; 22 1/4" x 20 1/2" framed 
Condition: Fine condition, minor scattered in-painting in sky. 
(see full condition report) 
Provenance: Private Collection, Chicago 
To Sean Dore, Esq., Chicago 
As one of the accomplished painters of the second generation of Hudson River School painters, John Kensett was admired in the 1850s for his idyllic landscapes and by the 1860s turned to the transcendental style for which he is best regarded today. His compositions became simplified and his palette more muted as he cultivated spiritual serenity. This painting is one of two known by Kensett that perhaps was done for as a benefit item during the Civil War as the name plaque, "Pro Patria" indicates, according to John  Driscoll, a notable expert on Kensett's work.
This dramatice view with threatening clouds oupled with, "the flaming aura of the tree," are signatures of Kensett's work during this period.