William Louis Sonntag Sr. 1

Autumn Landscape

A fine pastoral landscape by Irish artist Edward B. Gay (1837-1928). Gay was born in Dublin, Ireland, and emigrated with his to Albany, NY at a very young age as a result of the pota...

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 fine landscape of birch trees in the Adirondacks by American artist Paul Bernard King (1867-1947). King was born in Buffalo, New York, and after becoming an established printer, went on to study at the NY Art Students League with Henry S...

A fine landscape with sheep and cattle by American artist George Loring Brown (1814-1889). Brown was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and was apprenticed to wood engravers and illustr...

Untitled, c. 1900 Oil on canvas 16 x 24 in. Framed: 22 3/4 x 31 x 2 in. Signed lower right

This 19th-century American School river landscape painting by an unknown artist embodies the essence of the era’s reverence for nature and the burgeoning national identity. These wor...

A luminous Autumn oil on canvas board landscape, probably of the hills in the Hudson River Valley, by the noted American artist William Louis Sonntag (1822-1900). Signed in the lower right. Sonntag was born near Pittsburgh, PA and moved to Cincinnati, OH in the 1840’s to study art. He studied for a brief time with G. Frankenstein at the Cincinnati Academy of Fine Art and his idealized paintings of American wilderness and visionary paintings of imagined European ruins were commercially successful. He traveled twice to Europe in the 1850’s to improve his skills, eventually settling in New York City. He joined the National Academy of Design, where he exhibited his works for forty years. His mature works identify him with the Hudson River School of landscape painters. A romantic and naturalistic painter of his surroundings, Sonntag also created idealized paintings of Roman ruins, recalling his European trips of earlier years. Sonntag was an Associate (1860) and Academician (1861) at the National Academy of Design, and a member of the American Watercolor Society, Artists Fund Society, and the American Art Union...

Charles Henry Miller (American, 1842-1922) Untitled, c. Late 1800s-Early 1900s Oil on board 9 x 12 in. Framed: 14 5/8 x 17 3/4 in. Signed lower right: C.H. Miller Charles Henry Miller was a noted artist and painter of landscapes from Long Island, New York. The American poet Bayard Taylor called him, "The artistic discoverer of the little continent of Long Island." Miller was educated at Mount Washington Collegiate Institute, and graduated in medicine at the New York Homeopathic Institute in 1864. Before his graduation, he had occasionally painted pictures, and in 1860 he exhibited The Challenge Accepted at the National Academy of Design, in New York City. He lived in Queens at the summer estate, Queenslawn, originally purchased by his parents. He went abroad in 1864 and again in 1867, and was a pupil in the Bavarian Royal Academy at Munich under the instruction of Adolf Lier. After the 1874 death of his father, Jacob Miller, who was a wealthy architect and builder, Miller received a large inheritance that allowed him to paint as an independent artist for the remainder of his long life. He worked seriously and exhibited regularly, including at international exhibitions. The majority of his oil paintings depict Long Island subjects, especially those in and around Queens Village. Fed up with the development of the eastern part of Queens (present-day Nassau County), he began to spend part of his summers in East Marion, Long Island, c. 1910. Here he spent his time sketching and painting the surrounding areas. In 1885 he published The Philosophy of Art in America, using the pseudonym Carl De Muldor (he was descended from the De Muldor family). His work was recognized: in 1873, he was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design and an academician in 1875. He served as president of the New York Art Club in 1879 and of the American Committee at the Munich International Exposition in 1883. Legacy and honors • In 1910 Miller founded the Queens Borough Allied Arts & Crafts Society. • A New York City public school, Queens P.S. 33, was once named for him. • 1878, gold medal awarded by the Massachusetts Charitable Association • 1885, gold medal at the World's Exposition in New Orleans. Following is a list, which includes many of his known exhibitions: • National Academy of Design, New York, NY, 1860-61, 1865-67, 1870-1921 • Brooklyn Art Association, Brooklyn, NY, 1872-84, 1891-92 • Artist's Fund Society, New York, NY, 1874 (exhibition & sale), 1886 (exhibition & sale) • Century Association, New York, NY, (1874-1917) • Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA, 1876 (prize) • Society of American Artists, New York, NY, (1878-1882) • Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, Boston, MA, 1878 (prize) • Paris International Exposition, Paris, France, 1878, 1889 • American Water Color Society Exhibition, New York, NY, 1879 • Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia , PA, 1879-99 • Boston Art Club, Boston, MA, 1880-1907 (prize) • Union League Club, New York, NY, 1880 • Lotos Club, New York, NY, 1880, 1896, 1899-1900, 1906 • Salons of Paris, Paris, France, 1882 • International Exhibition, Munich, Germany, 1883 (president & exhibitor) • New Orleans Exposition, New Orleans, LA, 1885 (prize) • Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1888-89, 1891, 1894-98, 1904 • Fifth Avenue Art Gallery, New York, NY, 1889 (exhibition & sale) • World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, IL, 1892 • Frederick A. Chapman Gallery, New York, NY, 1898 (solo) • Miller Studio...