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Franconia Notch, White Mts.--Echo Lake and Profile House
Edward Hill (1843–1923)
Signed and dated lower right: Edward Hill, 1887.
Oil on canvas, 38 x 62 inches
New Hampshire Historical Society,
Gift of Mabelle Furst Greenleaf,
in memory of Charles Henry and Edith Greenleaf
1924.3.6
Edward Hill painted Franconia Notch, White Mts.--Echo Lake and Profile House, a scene he knew well, as artist-in-residence at the Profile House. Owned by Profile House operator and art patron Charles H. Greenleaf, the painting is a visual catalog of the resort's luxuries, conveniences, and natural attractions, as seen from nearby Artist's Bluff. The sprawling Profile House, to the right in the middle distance, advertised both the glories of its wilderness location and its easy accessibility to travelers. The downward curving slopes of Cannon Mountain on the right and Eagle Cliff on the left, as well as the gaze of the foreground figure, all direct attention to the hotel. Guests were deposited a short distance from the Profile House by a narrow-gauge railroad that linked the hotel directly to the main line in Bethlehem.
