DURAND, ASHER BROWN. 



293 



Madison, John Quincy Adams, Jackson, Jay, 

 Kent, Marshall, De Witt Clinton, and Oliver 

 Wolcott. Durand's portrait of Charles Car- 

 roll, after Harding, attracted the surprised at- 

 tention of many artists and amateurs abroad. 

 But his engraving of "Musidora," after his 

 own design (1825), and his engraving after 

 Vanderlyn's "Ariadne,' 1 remain with the "Dec- 

 laration " the most important examples of his 

 engraved work, much better known to con- 

 noisseurs than his portraits or landscapes. It 

 was difficult to persuade foreign amateurs that 

 the " Ariadne " was of American origin. This 

 work, which has been called " the finest exam- 

 ple of the nude yet produced in this country," 

 and " equal to any specimen of contemporary 

 European art," closed Durand's career as an 

 engraver. It is not too much to say that he 

 stood then, and until his death, at the head of 

 this profession in America, although the first 



C3e in one special branch, landscape, has 

 n generally conceded to the late James 

 Smillie. In 1835, at the age of thirty-nine, 

 Durand abandoned engraving for painting. His 

 ambition for original work in a medium more 

 flexible and forcible than the burin and steel 

 pkte, was encouraged by nis friend Luman 

 Reed, an early New York collector. Durand's 

 first essays in the new medium were portraits of 

 Kent, Jackson, Gouverneur Kemble, and later, 

 a portrait of Bryant, which, like others, was en- 

 graved in part by the painter. From portrait- 

 ure he turned to figure compositions, usually 

 representing historical subjects, like " Harvey 

 Birch and Washington," "The Capture of 

 Andre"," "The Dance on the Battery," and 

 "The Wrath of Peter Stuyvesant," all popu- 

 larized in engravings. These subjects, with 

 their landscape backgrounds, brought him 

 nearer the theme that was to engage his 

 best energies as a painter. Several years 

 before, American landscape-painting had be- 

 gun with Cole, who was followed a few 

 months later by Doughty. When the National 

 Academy of Design was founded, in 1826, both 

 these artists had gained some degree of recog- 

 nition, and were, like Durand, among the first 

 members. His career as a landscape-painter 

 began later, but the three artists are associated 

 as the first American landscape-painters. Du- 

 rand's strong love of nature turned him toward 

 landscape in preference to any other branch of 

 art. His earlier landscapes, like the " Morning 

 and Evening of Life" and "Kindred Spirits," 

 had an allegorical significance that was proba- 

 bly due to the influence of Cole. In the latter 

 picture Bryant and Cole were depicted stand- 

 ing upon a rocky plateau in the Catskills, "in 

 rapt survey of the glorious scene." Later, Du- 

 rand gave himself up to the painting of land- 

 scapes, from pure love of nature, without any 

 attempt at complex significance. In addition 

 to numerous mountain and forest views in the 

 Catskills and White Mountains, he painted many 

 pastoral scenes. But his favorite subjects were 

 found in the forests, and he will be best remem- 



bered as a painter of trees. Durand is a con- 

 spicuous figure in the history of American art. 

 He was an artist of remarkable capacity rather 

 than versatility ; for he was not only engraver, 

 portrait-painter, and landscape-painter, but 

 successful in each department. Moreover, he 

 was practically self-educated. The advantages 

 deemed essential now were wanting to him. as 

 to most of his contemporaries. He learned en- 

 graving by practical experiments, and painting 

 in much the same manner, borrowing hints 

 from books and from other artists, but enjoy- 

 ing no systematic instruction. It was not un- 

 til 1840 that he went abroad, and for the first 

 time was able to study examples of great art. 

 Like Cole, he was not influenced by the new 

 departure in landscape led by Constable, nor by 

 Turner, nor by the romantic movement headed 

 by Delacroix and Gericault in France, which was 

 followed by Rousseau and the modern French 

 landscape school. Cole is said to have drawn 

 his inspiration from Claude and Salvator Rosa. 

 It is not worth while to trace a foreign influence 

 in Durand's work, which was objective, like 

 Diisseldorf art, and also like much later Amer- 

 ican painting. Durand's technique was most 

 strongly influenced by his long use of the burin 

 in careful imitation and patient detail. He had 

 an advantage in accurate draughtsmanship, 

 which enabled him to give the lines of a com- 

 position with truth; but there were the disad- 

 vantages of constraint and of needless atten- 

 tion to minutiae. It may be admitted, however, 

 that few of our artists have drawn trees so 

 intelligently and truly. It has been said that 

 " his practice of studying character in portrait- 

 ure gave him insight into the individuality of 

 trees, he invested them with a humanity." Du- 

 rand was hardly an imaginative painter ; but to 

 a large extent this personification of trees, if it 

 may be so called, is characteristic of his paint- 

 ings. His perfect sincerity and genuine love 

 of nature are expressed in his work, and these 

 qualities are entitled to a respect seldom ac- 

 corded the earlier American painters, by some 

 of their cleverer but less sincere successors. 

 Durand's limitations were inevitable. Yet his 

 earnestness enabled him to translate some- 

 thing of the sentiment of his subjects, and 

 we must remember that his art was pecul- 

 iarly national, probably the purest representa- 

 tive of the American art of his time. As 

 with many of his contemporaries, his art was 

 somewhat affected by a literary influence, al- 

 though his love for Bryant and Wordsworth 

 was never so plainly shown in his paint- 

 ings as Cole's enthusiasm for Bunyan and 

 Scott. Personally, Durand was a man of re- 

 markable nobility, purity, and gentleness. He 

 constantly maintained the dignity of art, as 

 opposed to its degradation for commercial pur- 



res ; and the esteem in which he was held 

 his brother artists was indicated by the 

 offices to which he was chosen in the National 

 Academy. He was a member of the first ex- 

 hibition committee, filled the office of secretary 



