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Carter Notch from the Wildcat River
Benjamin Champney (1817-1907)
Signed and dated lower center: B. Champney. 1854
Oil on canvas, 24 x 34 inches
John J. and Joan R. Henderson
Benjamin Champney deliberately chose meadow views in which he could study nature at close range, while continuing to paint the drama of shadow and light in the valley that he loved. Champney never lost his poetic touch, nor his awareness of the grandeur of nature and the smallness of man. In a remote location near Pinkham Notch, he depicts the late afternoon sun striking three birch trees and drawing our attention to the fallen tree, its roots a signpost moving us toward the middle distance and the grandeur of the mountains. Our eyes follow the swift zigzag course of Wildcat River, moving upstream past the angler and turning at the bend into the grassy slope. A master colorist, Champney moves from the warm tones of the stream bed and the olive green trees near the embankment to the soft mauve of the nearby ledges. The golden glow of the setting sun transforms the mountains, from the lavender haze of the ledges in the middle ground to the blue mass of Wildcat and the Carter-Moriah Range beyond.
