Spanierman Gallery | An American Art Blog

John H. Twachtman, "Holland Meadows," ca. 1881, oil on cradled panel, 11 3/8 x 18 1/2 inches

Lisa N. Peters

A number of months ago, I received a call regarding a Dutch scene signed “J. H. Twachtman.”  On receiving an image of it, I knew immediately that it was a previously lost painting entitled Holland Meadows that John Henry Twachtman painted in Dordrecht on his 1881 honeymoon.  What was especially exciting was that the painting was a key work from this formative time in Twachtman’s career.  I had previously seen only a black and white reproduction of the painting, but that I had an image of it was due to the fact that the artist’s wife, Martha, made it available from the estate (Twachtman died in 1902) for several exhibitions from 1919 through 1923.  It was also in auction sales in 1925 and 1944, which provided enticing descriptions of it, mentioning its rich green expanse and limpid water.  Additionally, there was this vivid commentary on the work in the Boston Evening Transcript in 1919 by the eminent critic William Howe Downes:

Holland Meadows (7) is notable for its lush, moist richness of tone and its local color.  It is a veritable epitome of Dutch landscape in its depth of watery atmosphere, its suffused light, its verdant vegetation, its “fat” quality.  This admirable little picture was painted at Dordrecht on the artist’s wedding journey, in 1881.  It reminds one of the best examples of Weissenbruch, and it also has some affinity with Jacob Maris.

The painting surfaced from the estate of Himan Brown, who died at age 99 in 2010.  Brown, a creator of radio dramas, acquired the rights to fictional characters such as Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, and The Thin Man. He wrote scripts for such prominent figures as Orson Welles, Boris Karloff, and Peter Lorre, and was an early innovator in the creation of sound effects.  He was also a sagacious art collector, filling his New York apartment with works by artists such as Renoir, Degas, and Picasso.  In this august company, Twachtman’s Holland Meadows must have quietly spent several enjoyable decades.

When the painting arrived at the gallery, a gray film covered it.  A light cleaning brought it back to its original condition, the sparkle of the light on the water, the subtle movement of the clouds, the wet quality of the meadow evoking the contentment Twachtman felt on encountering this refreshing and naturally artistic countryside, while sharing it with his wife, also an artist, and visiting with J. Alden Weir and his half brother John Ferguson Weir, who joined the couple in a locale so popular with artists that it was known simply as the “Southern Sketching Grounds.”  Downes was accurate in pointing out a connection between Twachtman’s Holland Meadows and the paintings of Hague School contemporaries such as William Maris.  Indeed, Twachtman visited with Maris on his trip and showed him his work.  He found in Maris’s art an example of how to bring out nuances of light, atmosphere, and mood, which would remain Twachtman’s emphasis throughout the rest of his career.

There are six other known oils that Twachtman created in Holland on his honeymoon, but Holland Meadows is the one that best epitomizes this trip. With the mystery of its whereabouts now solved, the painting brings this moment in Twachtman’s art into a focus it did not have previously.

Visit the John H. Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné site