John Frederick Kensett
John Frederick Kensett was an American landscape painter and engraver born in Cheshire, Connecticut. He was a member of the second generation of the Hudson River School of artists. The painting we present today comes from the group of paintings known as The Last Summer’s Work (left behind in Kensett’s summer studio in Darien, Connecticut, upon his death in December 1872), which stirred deep admiration and fascination among his friends, admirers, and fellow artists. When they gathered later that month to honor his memory, they viewed the paintings—never before exhibited—as a final, profound expression of Kensett’s artistic vision and sensitivity. One work stood out as the most distilled: a glary seascape devoid of land, where a radiant sun hovers above the open ocean. Echoing the atmospheric mastery of J. M. W. Turner, the painting left a lasting impression. “It is pure light and water, a bridal of the sea and sky,” one eulogist declared, adding humbly, “Is it presumption in a poor novice in art like me to say that this is a great picture?”
This masterpiece is featured in our Sea, Ships & Beaches 50 Postcards Set ... a perfect reminiscence of summer! :)
P.S. Kensett was a one of the Luminists—American painters, who produced landscapes that were bathed in light! Take a look at some spectacular Luminist seascapes!