Childe Hassam (American, 1859-1935) - Saint Peter's, Near Broadstairs (The Shallows); with Landscape Study verso

watercolor

This unrecorded work will be included in Stuart P. Feld and Kathleen M. Burnside's forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of the artist's work. We wish to thank Kathleen M. Burnside for her kind assistance in cataloguing this rediscovered piece.Childe Hassam first visited Europe in the summer of 1883 at the age of 24, spending two months traveling the continent while studying and producing art. He returned again in 1886, settling in Paris where he would stay for three years. While in Europe, Hassam made several excursions to Broadstairs, the coastal Kent town at the southeastern tip of England, just across the channel from Dunkirk. During Roman times, the region was an island–it is still known as the Isle of Thanet–but the channel that separated it from the mainland became silted in the 17th century. Hassam created a series of watercolors of local life and landscapes in Broadstairs and its environs. His frequent depictions of this quaint seaside village demonstrate a deep affinity for the area, which encompasses the small hamlet of St. Peter's.The present piece was executed in 1889, towards the end of the artist's stint in Europe. It depicts an overgrown, verdant garden on a small rise towards a traditional English cottage, masked by a screen of greenery. A plume of smoke rises from the chimney, becoming indiscernible amongst the sharp white clouds. True to Hassam's style, the dappled flowers and leaves that dominate the scene–painted from a lowered perspective–are quickly and roughly applied.

The Artist.

Acquired directly from the above.

Collection of Allen M. Sumner, Boston, Massachusetts.

By descent in the family.

Private Collection, Virginia.