William Louis Sonntag was drawn to the untamed beauty of the American landscape and pursued his interest in the arts despite his father’s objections. He took sketching trips to the Carolinas, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and with the outbreak of war in the early 1860s, he began spending summers in New England. Like many of his contemporaries, he was especially drawn to the picturesque environs of New Hampshire’s White Mountains and painted in the region through the 1860s and early 1870s, often renting a summer house in Shelburne. During that time he also traveled to Vermont and Maine, capturing the beauty of each local on canvas.

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Provenance:

Private collection, Boston, Massachusetts

To private collection, Dedham, Massachusetts, and remained with collector until his passing, 2014

By descent to private collection, Lexington, Massachusetts, 2014 to present

Labels:

(on frame) Brockton Art Center / Fuller Memorial / Brockton, Massachusetts /Exhibited in “Collecting Collectors” / February 27 – April 27, 1975

Literature:

Moure, Nancy Dustin Wall. William Louis Sonntag: Artist of the Ideal 1822-1900 (Los Angeles: Goldfield Galleries, 1980), Catalogue No. 381, illus. page 127

Exhibitions:

Collecting Collectors, Brockton Art Center, Fuller Memorial, Brockton, Massachusetts, February 27 – April 27, 1975