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Catalog of the Fine Arts CollectionPlease note that the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum prohibits the use of images from its collection in public exhibition, broadcast, electronic reproduction or publication in any form without prior written permission from the institution. If you would like to reproduce any of the Art Gallery images in any form, contact us at 748-8291.
A. Wordsworth Thompson (1840-1896), American Baltimore native Wordsworth Thompson's panoramic depiction of a small town located on Lake Como in northern Italy provides as expansive a view of the town's community as it does of the scenic landscape itself. Peasants, merchants, soldiers, musicians, and nobles mingle patiently while awaiting the ferry, providing the artist a rare opportunity to portray them at once. The brilliant blue sky and distant Alpine landscape, animated mixture of social types in the foreground, and historic buildings are carefully interwoven in Thompson's composition. Painted just four years after the unification of Italy was completed, Thompson's painting suggests the natural ease with which the people and landscape peaceably coexisted. Although the artist himself had been living in New York since completing his studies in Paris in 1868, he continued to develop his appreciation of Europe's diverse cultures and landscape during shorter trips abroad thereafter. |
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