Willard LeRoy Metcalf

Late 19th Century Tonalist Landscape with Oak Trees

1899

Marin County Meadows and Pond with Oak Trees by Manuel Valencia Tonalist Pioneer A painter of California history and western landscapes, Manuel Valencia was born in Marin County, California in 1856 on the Rancho San Jose, the Valencia hacienda. The family received many land grants in the San Francisco area because of their ties to settlement history. Image 8"H x 11.5"W Frame, 14.5"H x 18.5"W x 2.75"D The central focus of the painting is a cluster of lush, verdant trees, likely deciduous, situated near a calm body of water, possibly a pond or slow-moving creek. With a faint outline of figures emerging into the meadow below the towering trees. The foreground features a grassy area with hints of wildflowers or textured ground cover, leading the eye towards the water's edge. In the background, beyond the main cluster of trees, there appears to be a smaller, indistinct structure, possibly a house or shed, suggesting a subtle human presence in the otherwise natural scene. The overall composition is balanced and serene, typical of Tonalist works seeking to evoke a peaceful mood rather than dramatic narrative. Color Palette and Light: The painting employs a subdued, Tonalist color palette, dominated by varying shades of greens, browns, and grays for the landscape elements, and a muted, possibly overcast or hazy sky in the upper portion of the canvas. The light source is diffused and soft, creating a gentle luminosity across the scene, particularly noticeable on the surface of the water which reflects the muted tones of the sky and surrounding foliage. This soft lighting emphasizes the atmospheric quality and quiet mood of the scene. He was a descendant of General Gabriel Valencia, the first governor of the state of Sonora, Mexico under Spanish rule. He was named for his grandfather, who arrived in California in 1774 and became administrator of the Presidio in San Francisco. As a Tonalist, Valencia primarily focused on variations in value and muted color palettes, often featuring greens, purples, blues, and grays. This emphasis on subtle shifts in tone, rather than sharp contrasts, allowed him to create smooth transitions between light and shadow, mimicking the soft, diffused light found in atmospheric conditions like mist, twilight, or moonlight. Valencia studied with artists including Jules Tavernier in the San Francisco area, where he lived his entire life, and attended what is now Santa Clara University. He also spent some time in Mexico where he was a member of the Esquela de Bellas Artes de Mexico. Early in his career, he was a commercial artist who designed calling cards. After the 1906 earthquake and fire, Valencia and his family moved to San Jose, but he commuted to his studio in San Francisco. There he was art editor of the "San Francisco Chronicle" newspaper under art patron M.H. de Young, for whom the museum in San Francisco is named. War Cry, the Salvation Army newspaper, also hired Valencia as its first illustrator. During the time he did illustration work in San Francisco, he kept studios in Monterey and Santa Cruz, did landscapes in Tonalist styles including moonlit scenes that were similar to those of Charles Rollo Peters and indicated he had an awareness of the poetic aesthetic of James McNeill Whistler. Around 1912, he began exhibiting in San Francisco galleries such as S & J Gumps and in New York at Macbeth Gallery and exclusive restaurants such as Delmonico's. President William McKinley, who purchased one of his Yosemite paintings...

Early 20th Century California Tonalist Oil Landscape "Showers, The Lower San Joaquin River, California" by James Everett Stuart, 1909. This stellar tonalist oil painting by James E...

Early 20th Century Tonalist Pastel Landscape Beautiful tonal landscape, c.1915, by pastel artist William Henry Chandler (American, 1854-1928). The viewer looks out over a serene riv...

Lovely and bright hillside landscape by William Horsbrugh-Porter RHA (Irish, 1905-1985). Several aspens and other trees are showing lovely fall foliage, nestled on the side of a rocky hill. A path runs along the bottom of the composition. There is some impasto to the brushwork, adding texture and depth to the piece. Signed and dated "Horsbrugh 26" in the lower right corner. Canvas size: 20"H x 24"W Presented in a textured wood frame; 27.75"H x 31.75"W x 3.75"D. William Eric Horsbrugh-Porter (Irish, 1905-1985), a native of Dalkey Co. Dublin, attended the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art before continuing his education at the renowned Slade School, London, where he held both the Slade Scholarship and the Robert Ross Scholarship. In 1928 he collaborated with his friend, the London born artist Stephen Bone...

Willard Metcalf (1858-1925) was an important American Impressionist, member of the American Watercolor Society, and teaching at Cooper Union and the Art Student's League. This comp...

Landscape with Trees Oil/Canvas 12 x 16 unframed, 21.5 x 25 framed Painting is in good condition, signed bottom left margin with craquelure in the clouds as shown. Housed in beautif...

A fine tonalist landscape by American artist J. Francis Murphy (1853-1921). Murphy was born in Oswego, New York, he moved to Chicago in 1868, where his father was employed in the shipping industry. In Chicago, Murphy began working as a scene painter in a local theatre and was quickly promoted to lead his co-workers. Largely self-taught, his only training consisted of a few classes at the Chicago Academy of Design. There he became friends with Emil Carlsen and Theodore Robinson, and in 1873, Academy members elected him an Associate; a few weeks later, he became an Academician. His work was first exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1876, where he was inducted eleven years later.He won numerous prizes, medals and honors for his landscape paintings, which are said to rank with those of George Inness, Alexander Wyant, and Homer Martin. Although his world was a limited one, his landscapes captured the forms of nature and the subtle nuances of the scene. Murphy was referred to as the "American Corot" because of his similarity to the painting style of Camille Corot (1796-1875), one of the original Barbizon...

A wonderful rendition of an English Landscape by renowned artist William Emerson, depicting a serene autumnal landscape scene with a lush, green tree on the left side of the composit...