Rheinstein

Sanford Robinson Gifford

1872–74

Raised in the Hudson River Valley in New York, Sanford Robinson Gifford was an active traveler who visited Europe, the Near East, and the American West. Rheinstein was painted at a mature point in his career and presents a German castle along the Rhine River that he visited in 1856 and 1869. American tourism to Europe increased in popularity during the late nineteenth century, stimulated by a boom of travel literature and imagery. Painted for a domestic audience while Gifford was living and working in the United States, the evocative depiction conveys an alluring vision of the foreign motif for Americans enthralled by international locales. The vertical orientation of the castle, high above a path curving around a promontory, imparts the impression of magnificence one might have when approaching the lofty structure from below. The subtly gradated light suffusing the entire composition unifies the scene, suggesting the harmonious accord between the medieval castle, the women carrying baskets on the road below, and the distant sailboats on the river on the right. As much a nostalgic scene of rustic life as an elaborate study of different light effects, the painting suggests a melding of Gifford’s interest in a romanticized vision of a site and his desire to evoke a particular sensation in response to the specific conditions of place. [Exhibition label, 2013]

Artist Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823–1880)
Title Rheinstein
Date 1872–74
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions unframed | 31 3/8 x 27 1/4 in.
Credit line Bequest of Charles Parsons, 1905
Object number WU 2182

Technique oil painting
Work type painting
Theme Landscape

Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/09/2016 - 01/15/2017

Abodes of Plenty: American Art of the Inhabited Landscape
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/29/2016 - 04/24/2016

American Places: Painting the Landscape in the Nineteenth Century
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/20/2013 - 01/06/2014

Weltclasse. Die Düsseldorfer Malerschule 1819–1918 (Worldclass: The Düsseldorf School of Painting, 1819–1918)
Museum Kunstpalast (Düsseldorf, Germany), 09/23/2011 - 01/22/2012

The Cultural Life of Things
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 12/21/2007 - 04/21/2008

Travel and Tourism in American Culture
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/01/2005 - 10/21/2005

Green Acres: Neocolonialism in the U.S.
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/11/1992 - 11/01/1992

The Beautiful, The Sublime, and The Picturesque: British Influences on American Landscape Painting
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 02/18/1984 - 04/08/1984

Parsons Collection
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1983 - 08/21/1983

The Centennial Exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1981 - 10/11/1981

Charles Parsons: Portrait of a St. Louis Collector
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 12/12/1976 - 01/30/1977

Memorial Exhibition of the Paintings of Sanford Robinson Gifford, R.A
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, New York), 10/20/1880 - 04/01/1881

1905
Charles Parsons

Inscription [LL of canvas, in black paint:] S R Gifford 1872-4

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