Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011405About the Artwork
This lyrical drawing on brilliant blue paper was done on a trip to Italy, where George Inness made a series of watercolor sketches of the Italian countryside in the vicinity of Albano. In contrast to the precision of his earlier Hudson River school paintings, in the early 1870s his work achieved a new freedom. This drawing is reminiscent of a classical Italian landscape, illustrating a broad expanse with a road winding through an Italian village, complete with framing trees in the foreground and ancient fortifications in the background. Inness made this drawing by applying wet washes one on top of another, intentionally creating a blurred effect, like that of a memory from the distant past.
Inscriptions
Signed, lower right, in graphite: "G. Inness"; verso, by unknown hand, in graphite; Upper left: "No 11"; Lower left, in graphite: "No 21 [crossed out] 16 [circled]"
Provenance
?–1937: Mrs. Henry A. Everett [1866-1937], New York, NY 1937–38: Estate of Mrs. Henry A. Everett to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH June 3, 1938–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Paintings by George Inness. Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX (organizer) (December 12, 1965-January 30, 1966). America Draws. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1984-March 17, 1985). American Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 19-July 12, 1998). Nature Sublime: Landscapes from the 19th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 15-November 14, 2004).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- George Inness (American, 1825–1894)
- Date
- c. 1872
- Medium
- watercolor with gouache over graphite
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 32.6 x 24.2 cm (12 13/16 x 9 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Bequest of Mrs. Henry A. Everett for the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection
- Accession no.
- 1938.62
More by George Inness in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00011405
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