George Boice Durrie Oil on Canvas Painting
George Boice Durrie (Attributed), oil on canvas painting depicting a winter farmstead scene. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, George Durrie was known as the "snowman" because of the many winter scenes he painted. He lived most of his life in New Haven and earned a reputation for rural landscape scenes, especially snow scenes, which he introduced as subject matter in American painting. His paintings "provide an excellent record of rural life in the mid-nineteenth century . . . and his carefully recorded details of nature and foliage added authenticity to his depictions." (Reed 15). He is credited with making the discovery that farm landscape scenes are more appealing when they appear to be covered with snow, hence the introduction of the "snowscene" into American painting. His paintings emphasized bleak, snowy wintry scenes of New England. At the same time, he was creating snowscenes in the 1860s, Currier and Ives were marketing hand-colored lithographs, and his landscapes matched their formula for pleasant, quiet country motifs. These works brought both him and Currier and Ives much success, and after his death in 1863, they continued to use his paintings for lithographs. Among his most popular prints were Cider Making, Winter in the Country, Getting Ice and Winter Morning. His works have achieved prices as high as 1,000,000.
Painting: 9 3/4" High x 12" Wide. Frame: 14" High x 16" Wide

small puncture with repair to canvas. condition commensurate with age