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Mount Kearsarge
Erdix Tenney Wilson (1831-1901)
Signed lower right: E. T. Wilson
Not dated, probably 1870-1900
Oil on canvas, 18 x 28 inches
Private collection
Professional and itinerant artists alike found inspiration in the scenery of the Conway Valley during the nineteenth century. Erdix Tenney Wilson, who worked as a photographer in nearby Lancaster, New Hampshire, also painted landscapes and portraits in New Hampshire and Vermont. In Mount Kearsarge Wilson depicted a scene similar to works by the popular landscape painters Alfred T. Ordway and Benjamin Champney. His mastery of the reflective qualities of the water in the foreground and the balanced composition of the scene can most likely be attributed to his experience as a photographer. Wilson's pastoral depiction of Mount Kearsarge and North Conway illustrates the close relationship of aesthetic values in the fledgling American arts of landscape painting and photography.
