Landscape
n.d.
36 in. x 28 in.
Henry Ward Ranger,
American,
(January 29, 1858–November 7, 1916)
Medium and Support:
oil on canvas
Credit Line:
Florence Griswold Museum; Gift of Ms. Barbara B. Wood
Accession Number:
1998.5
Recent cleaning of this painting reveals insights into Ranger's working methods. In this work the artist began with a white ground (or priming) and over this he applied a transparent yellow glaze - Ranger prefered yellow "because it is the color more suggestive of sunlight." Ranger claimed that he painted thinly into this yellow glaze "with vigorous primaries - red, yellow and blue- then with a full brush, approaching the final effect desired as closely as possible." In this work, while the yellow layer was still wet, he applied a red color. After the initial layer of red, thick strokes of heavily textured paint were then applied to define the trees and foliage. After this thicker paint was dry, thinner layers of paint were added to modify and enrich the textured paint surface.