Posted 12 years ago
emersonest…
(123 items)
I have this painting and I don't know anything about it except that I think it is from the Hudson River School. The scene is unknown but there is a castle in the background or maybe it is a fort. There is a waterwheel in the painting along with a man lifting bails of cotton and cows drinking water. If anyone could please help me identify the subject or location along with the artist and period and possible value. This painting has been in my family for almost 40 years and I would like to know more so that I can pass it on to my children. I would also like to insure it because it appears to be a one of a kind. Any information is helpful and I appreciate your input.
Thank you.
Is there any signature? Best to look with a flash light as some are very hard to see. Not Hudson River School. Probably English or European kinda in the style of John Constable. Would need to see pictures of the back to try to determine age. I can guess a bit from photos but the only way to get a good assessment of a piece of art like this is with a hands on appraisal.
There are so many castles on the Hudson river and most are run down government owned properties. Could be part of Bannerman Island Castle that is located on Pollopel island, 6 3/4 acres of mostly rock in the Hudson river near Cornwall New York. It was built by Frank Bannerman VI, not as a home, but as a place to store items such as weapons and ammunition that he purchased at government auctions. The owner wife after he died pretended to be Queen Victoria of England to pass her time and the state locked her away in a state run asylum; seizing her property and estate valued at 2 billion in 1967; when the Bannerman Castle Trust was awarded by the courts on August 8, 1969, a fire of unknown origin destroyed all of the buildings. There are castles all up and down the east coast seized by our fine government. Could be part of the Beta Castle in Maryland seized by the federal government and now owned by the Army; current photos of its total dilapidation are highly restricted; it was seized in 1923 from sorority Pi Beta Nu. There are about a thousand of these rock castles just on the east coast alone that sit dilapidated and are owned by state and federal government. Not sure if I would rule out the Hudson River School.