Artists in the Gallery and
in Park Collections
Marsh - Billings - Rockefeller National Historical Park
is the only national park to tell the story of conservation history and the evolving nature of land stewardship in America. Park collections include the works of some of America's finest landscape painters and members of the Hudson River School. The paintings were acquired by Frederick (1823–1890) and Julia Parmly Billings (1835–1914), and by Laurence S. Rockefeller (1910–2004) and Mary French Rockefeller (1910–1997), who was Billings' granddaughter. They are displayed in the Mansion in Woodstock, Vermont that was George Perkins Marsh's boyhood home. Marsh was one of America's first conservationists.
The Mansion was later the home of Frederick and Julia Billings, who assembled the art collection. Billings, a conservationist, pioneer in reforestation and scientific farm management, lawyer, philanthropist, and railroad builder, extended the principles of land management introduced by Marsh.
The property and collections were given to the American people in 1992 by Laurance and Mary Rockefeller. Rockefeller was a dedicated conservationist who applied the human values of stewardship to further the goals of conservation, outdoor recreation, and environmental protection in private and public arenas. He was a key supporter of the national parks.
Artwork in this gallery includes works by Albert Bierstadt, Alfred T. Bricher, Thomas Cole, Jasper F. Cropsey, Asher B. Durand, David Johnson, and John Frederick Kensett. The fine arts collection numbers over 700 and includes paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures. Artists represented in the collection include Alexandre Antigna, Charles Baskerville, William Bradford, Frederic Bridgman, John W. Casilear, Harry Chase, Ruth Lambert Cheney, William Jay Dana, Harry H. Davis, Stuart E. Eldredge, Charles T. Frère, Sanford Robinson Gifford, Adele Herter, Hermann Herzog, Kaoru Kawano, William Keith, Frances Johnson Kidder, Edward Moran, Peter Moran, Anna Mary Robertson "Grandma" Moses, W. Percy Richardson, Jay Robinson, Sanford Ross, Thomas Prichard Rossiter, George Henry Smillie, Hiroshige Utagawa, Frank Waller, Arthur Bricket Wilder, Thomas Waterman Wood, Alice Geddes Woodward, Laura Woodward, and others.
