Portrait of Sanford Robinson Gifford

Sanford Robinson Gifford Painting Reproductions 1 of 1

1823-1880

American Hudson River School Painter

Sanford Robinson Gifford (July 10, 1823 - August 29, 1880) was an American landscape painter and one of the leading members of the Hudson River School. Gifford's landscapes are known for their emphasis on light and soft atmospheric effects, and he is regarded as a practitioner of Luminism, an offshoot style of the Hudson River School.

Childhood and early career
Gifford spent his childhood in Hudson, New York, the son of an iron foundry owner. He attended Brown University briefly before leaving to study art in New York City in the mid 1840s. By 1847 he was sufficiently skilled at painting to exhibit his first landscape at the National Academy of Design in New York and was elected an associate in 1851, an academician in 1854. Thereafter Gifford devoted himself to landscape painting, becoming one of the finest artists of the early Hudson River School.

Gifford's travels
Like most Hudson River School artists, Gifford traveled extensively to find scenic landscapes to sketch and paint. In addition to exploring New England and upstate New York, Gifford made extensive trips abroad. He first traveled to Europe from 1855 to 1857, to study European art and sketch subjects for future paintings. During this trip Gifford also met and traveled extensively with Albert Bierstadt and Worthington Whittredge. Upon his return he served in the Union Army as a corporal in the Seventh Regiment upon the outbreak of the Civil War. A few of his canvases belonging to New York City's Seventh Regiment and the Union League Club of New York are testiment to that troubled time. Another journey, this time with Jervis McEntee and his wife, took him across Europe in 1868. Leaving the McEntees behind, Gifford traveled to the Middle East, including Egypt in 1869. Then in the summer of 1870 Gifford ventured to the Rocky Mountains in the western United States, this time with Worthington Whittredge and John Frederick Kensett.

In the studio
Returning to his studio in New York City, Gifford painted numerous major landscapes from scenes he recorded on his travels. Gifford's method of creating a work of art was similar to other Hudson River School artists. He would first sketch rough, small works in oil paint from his sketchbook pencil drawings. Those scenes he most favored he then developed into small, finished paintings, then into larger, finished paintings

"Chief pictures"
Gifford referred to the best of his landscapes as his "chief pictures". Many of his chief pictures are characterized by a hazy atmosphere with soft, suffuse sunlight. Gifford often painted a large body of water in the foreground or middle distance, in which the distant landscape would be gently reflected. Examples of Gifford's "chief pictures" in museum collections today include:

Lake Nemi (1856-57), Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
The Wilderness (1861), Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
A Passing Storm (1866), Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut
Ruins of the Parthenon (1880), Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Gifford's death
On August 29, 1880, Gifford died in New York City, having been diagnosed with malarial fever. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City celebrated his life that autumn with a memorial exhibition of 160 paintings. A catalog of his work published shortly after his death recorded in excess of 700 paintings during his career.

19 Sanford Robinson Gifford Paintings

Near Palermo, 1874 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Near Palermo 1874

Oil Painting
$642
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GSR-5691
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 40 x 75 cm
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, Spain

A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove), 1862 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove) 1862

Oil Painting
$711
Canvas Print
$105.40
SKU: GSR-12280
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 121.9 x 101.3 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Tivoli, 1870 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Tivoli 1870

Oil Painting
$659
Canvas Print
$65.38
SKU: GSR-12281
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 67 x 128 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Isola Bella in Lago Maggiore, 1871 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Isola Bella in Lago Maggiore 1871

Oil Painting
$663
Canvas Print
$70.56
SKU: GSR-12282
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 51.4 x 91.4 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

In the wilderness, 1871 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

In the wilderness 1871

Oil Painting
$720
Canvas Print
$68.60
SKU: GSR-12283
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 76.2 x 137.1 cm
Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, USA

A Home in the Wilderness, 1866 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

A Home in the Wilderness 1866

Oil Painting
$693
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GSR-12284
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 76.8 x 135.7 cm
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA

A View from the Berkshire Hills, near Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 1863 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

A View from the Berkshire Hills, near Pittsfield, ... 1863

Oil Painting
$670
Canvas Print
$75.74
SKU: GSR-12285
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 56.2 x 91.8 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

Windsor Castle, 1860 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Windsor Castle 1860

Oil Painting
$570
Canvas Print
$75.57
SKU: GSR-12286
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 45.1 x 75.9 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

A Coming Storm, 1863 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

A Coming Storm 1863

Oil Painting
$698
Canvas Print
$50.23
SKU: GSR-12287
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 71.1 x 106.7 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, USA

Mount Rainier, Bay of Tacoma - Puget Sound, 1875 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Mount Rainier, Bay of Tacoma - Puget Sound 1875

Oil Painting
$656
Canvas Print
$65.38
SKU: GSR-12288
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 53.3 x 102.8 cm
Seattle Art Museum, Washington, USA

Morning in the Hudson, Haverstraw Bay, 1866 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Morning in the Hudson, Haverstraw Bay 1866

Oil Painting
$591
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GSR-12289
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 36.2 x 76.8 cm
Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, USA

Hunter Mountain, Twilight, 1866 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Hunter Mountain, Twilight 1866

Oil Painting
$742
Canvas Print
$70.21
SKU: GSR-12290
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 77.8 x 137.5 cm
Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, USA

Hook Mountain, Near Nyack, on the Hudson, 1866 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Hook Mountain, Near Nyack, on the Hudson 1866

Oil Painting
$364
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GSR-12291
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 20.6 x 48.3 cm
Yale University Art Gallery, Connecticut, USA

Leander's Tower on the Bosporus, 1876 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Leander's Tower on the Bosporus 1876

Oil Painting
$591
Canvas Print
$60.92
SKU: GSR-12292
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 48.4 x 99.4 cm
Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA

Marshes of the Hudson, 1878 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Marshes of the Hudson 1878

Oil Painting
$552
Canvas Print
$67.88
SKU: GSR-12293
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 41.9 x 77.4 cm
Colby College Museum of Art, Maine, USA

Morning on Haverstraw Bay, Hudson River, 1866 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Morning on Haverstraw Bay, Hudson River 1866

Oil Painting
$343
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GSR-12294
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 22.8 x 48.2 cm
Colby College Museum of Art, Maine, USA

Twilight in the Adirondacks, 1864 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Twilight in the Adirondacks 1864

Oil Painting
$418
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GSR-12295
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 26.6 x 47 cm
Colby College Museum of Art, Maine, USA

Whiteface Mountain from Lake Placid, 1866 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Whiteface Mountain from Lake Placid 1866

Oil Painting
$481
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GSR-18180
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 29.5 x 49.8 cm
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, USA

Villa Malta, Rome, 1879 by Sanford Robinson Gifford | Painting Reproduction

Villa Malta, Rome 1879

Oil Painting
$536
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GSR-18181
Sanford Robinson Gifford
Original Size: 33.6 x 69.5 cm
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, USA

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