(TOP) FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH (1826–1900), The Meteor of 1860, 1860, oil on canvas, 10 1/4 x 17 1/2 in.
(BELOW) WALTER LIBBEY (1827–1852), The New Fife,
c. 1851, oil on canvas, 29 3/4 x 25 in.
One half of the gallery that connects to the private wing is enhanced with a 23-foot-long Persian wool carpet made sometime before 1870.
light a handful of specific works that readers of Fine Art Connoisseur might find particularly intriguing. Among the most outstanding of the paintings is The Meteor of 1860, painted by Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900) on and just after July 20, 1860. It was on this date that the skies of North America were illuminated by a spectacular string of fireball meteors. Church watched in awe from Olana, while down the Hudson River in New York City Walt Whitman was spurred to reflect upon this unforgettable phenomenon in words rather than brushstrokes. Hernstadt’s painting is widely seen as an icon of American art and played a key role in the magisterial 2012 touring exhibition The Civil War and American Art, organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s senior curator Eleanor Jones Harvey. William L. Coleman, Ph.D., who is director of collections and exhibitions at the Olana Partnership, says this painting, “which was once on view at Olana alongside views F I N E A R T C O N N O I S S E U R · C O M
S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R
of the Northern Lights and Arctic peaks, is a classic statement of a distinct artistic vision that joined reportage, scientific study, intrepid travel, and allegory in a mixture wholly his own. This compelling canvas seems to be illuminated from within, capturing a rare astronomic phenomenon that captured the imagination of the continent.” Starting out with such a masterpiece may be misleading, however, because Hernstadt does not usually seek out works just because they were made by famous artists. A good example of her curiosity is The New Fife, painted around 1851 by the now relatively forgotten American Walter Libbey (1827–1852). He was a rising star in American art when he died suddenly the following year at the tender age of 25. From his teens Libbey had been gradually refining the portrait-genre format made popular by the older master William Sidney Mount (1807–1868), and this particular work won much attention. Walt Whitman wrote that there is “a character of Americanism about it… [I]n this boy of Walter Libbey’s, there is nothing to prevent his becoming a President, or even editor of a leading newspaper.” The artist’s evocation not only of innocence but also of possibilities is striking and we can see why Hernstadt chose to display this masterwork over her living room’s fireplace. Anyone interested in American history must eventually focus on Philadelphia, so it’s not surprising that Hernstadt owns a painting from a member of that one-time capital’s leading artistic dynasty, the Peales. She is pleased to own not only the Portrait of Mrs. Young painted by James Peale (1749– 1831) and still in its original frame, but also the receipt for $20 he gave her father (“Mr. Macallister”) on January 14, 1812. Dating from just a year earlier is the atmospheric View of Sweetbriar painted by the now-less-famous, yet talented, artist Thomas Birch (1779–1851). Born in England, he had come to bustling Philadelphia in 1794 and made a name for himself painting, among other subjects, the estates of merchant gentlemen on the city’s outskirts. This house still stands in what is now Fairmont Park and was highlighted as an iconic example of the British tradition of “country house” portraits in the 1986 exhibition Views and Visions: American Landscape before 1830, curated by Edward J. Nygren for the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Hernstadt’s interests are not limited to paintings. Helping her to welcome guests in the entrance gallery is a period plaster bust of George Washington created by a still-unidentified maker. (Mysteries like this attract 2 0 2 0
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