Carl Christian (Charles) Brenner (Kentucky/Switzerland/Germany, 1838-1888) oil on canvas landscape painting depicting a grove of trees at the edge of a body of water, with luminous pink sunset in the background. Signed "Carl C. Brenner" lower right. Canvas is backed with (but not adhered to) a board bearing a partial late 19th century catalog listing. Period Label en verso of stretcher, "From James S. Eaple & Sons 1831-1890". Painting has descended in the consignor's family with the oral title "Beech Woods" (one of the titles from the catalog listing). Period floral-molded giltwood and composition frame with gold-brown velvet liner. Canvas - 10" H x 8 1/4" W. Framed - 21 1/2" H x 19 1/2" W. Provenance: Private Southern Collection. Biography: "A native of Lauterecken, Bavaria, Carl Christian Brenner is noted for his landscapes and genre paintings. As a youth, he demonstrated sufficient artistic talent to be offered admission to the Munich Art Academy. However, Brenner's father insisted he decline the offer and instead be trained as a glazier. At the age of fifteen, Brenner immigrated to the United States, landing first at New Orleans in 1853. He worked as a sign painter and glazier in that city for a few years, but then moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he made his home for the remainder of his life. Working from his adopted city, Brenner painted a panoramic view of Civil War scenes for the Masonic Hall of Louisville in 1863. In the 1870s, Brenner began to devote his energies to landscape painting, creating many detailed views of the parks, rivers and forests in Louisville and the Cumberland mountains, for which he became well known and especially beloved locally. He also traveled to the West to paint views of the Plains states, Colorado, California, Washington, and Oregon. Brenner exhibited landscapes in the Louisville Industrial Exposition of 1874 and Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. He participated regularly in annual exhibitions of the National Academy of Design from 1877 to 1886 and in those of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1881 to 1885. His work is in the collections of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, St. Louis Museum of Art, Speed Art Museum, Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum of Art, and Morris Museum of Art." (Source: The Johnson Collection).

Canvas is in overall good condition but needs to be restretched (some light buckling); scattered fine craquelure. A couple of tiny spots fluoresce in the sky under UV light. Frame has some small losses and wear to gilding; wear to velvet liner.