|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
The American views displayed in the Mansion reflect the personal taste of Frederick and Julia Billings, and their firsthand acquaintance with many of the landmark places depicted.
Views of the Yosemite Valley and the San Francisco coastal cliffs evoke the Billings’ residence in California. Frederick was an Argonaut, one of the newcomers who arrived in San Francisco during the Gold Rush of 1849. He lived in California for a number of years thereafter, and brought his new bride Julia to San Francisco in 1862. Together they owned a portfolio of mammoth photo views of Yosemite, made by the pioneering landscape photographer Carleton Watkins.
Mount Hood recalls the distinctive landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, highlighted along the route of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Frederick Billings was President during the railroad’s crucial early years, and was instrumental in bringing it to completion.
Several views of the countryside in New England and New York favor autumn in their woodland colors. They evoke the New England landscapes that the Billings family knew well. Autumn foliage was a signature feature and event in the Northeast, inspiring artists, writers, and sightseers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Later Laurance and Mary French Rockefeller added several paintings that enriched the historic themes of the collection. A Bierstadt view titled Scenery in the Grand Tetons evokes the Rockefeller family’s deep admiration for the Tetons and their conservation of the national parklands there. A David Johnson view of Lake George, and a Jasper Cropsey view of High Bridge in New York, recall landscapes that the Rockefellers both knew well.
View PAINTINGS listed by ARTIST >>
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
