Description:
Framed watercolor looking at the outside of the walls of a walled town, with the town in the background and a figure working outside the walls in front of a long line of laundry drying in the sun. Since the drawing has been reframed, the original labels and markings are pasted to the new back: "No." in print and "5" in blue; "Title" in print and "Walls of Carcassone" in ink (Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the south of France); over "Artist" in print; "9x" in blue; "5"; and a label for "D.B Butler / Engravings & Etchings / and / Picture Frames / 398 4th AVE / Bet. 27th & 29th Sts / N.Y." The drawing is unsigned and undated but by James Wells Champney (1843-1903); Champney painted on site, and from memory and photographs. Born in Boston, James Champney served in the 45th Massachusetts Volunteers from 1862-1863 before being invalided out of the army; he then taught drawing at Dr. Dio Lewis's "Young Ladies Seminary" from 1864-1866. After deciding to become a professional artist, Champney moved to Europe where he studied in France with Pierre Edouard Frere (1819-1886), a well-known French realist genre painter; in Antwerp with Joseph Francois Henri Van Lerius (1823-1876); and in Italy. In 1870, Champney returned to Boston where he opened a studio; in 1873, he was commissioned by "Scribner's Monthly Magazine" to illustrate "The Great South; A Record of Journeys in Louisiana, Texas, the Indian Territory, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland," a series of articles on the Reconstruction South by Edward King (1848-1896) where the two travelled more than 25,000 miles and Champney contributed at least 500 illustrations. In 1873, Champney married Elizabeth Johnson Williams (1850-1922), whom he had met at the "Young Ladies Seminary;" she was a graduate of the Vassar class of 1869 who became a popular children's author of her period and many of whose whose works Champney illustrated. Born in Springfield, Ohio, Elizabeth Williams was the half-sister of Orson Bennet Williams (1834-1912) and daughter of Samuel Barnard Williams (1803-1884), originally of Deerfield, whose second wife was Caroline Johnson (d.1885) whom he married in 1844; the granddaughter of Elijah Williams (1767-1832) who married Hannah Barnard (1772-1853), daughter of Samuel Barnard (1721-1788) of Deerfield, in 1803; and great-granddaugher of Dr. Thomas Williams (1718-1775) of Deerfield. In 1876 the Champneys moved into Samuel Barnard Williams' house in Deerfield where Champney built a studio; they lived in Deerfield for several years while he was professor of art at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and one of the founders of the Smith Art Gallery. In 1879, Champney opened a studio in New York City, and from that time on the Deerfield became their summer home. James and Elizabeth had two children: Edward Frere (1874-1929) who studied art and became an architect, and Maria Mitchell (1876-1906) who was born in Deerfield, married John Sanford Humphreys in 1899, and was a miniature painter. Mrs. Elizabeth Champney gave this drawing to Benjamin Zabina Stebbins (1865-1950) of Deerfield in 1921, which was later purchased from his daughter, Miss Marion Stebbins.
Label Text:
American artists traveling abroad gravitated toward ruins to commemorate their encounters with the historic sites or relics of Europe. Champney created this watercolor of the historic fortified city of Carcassone in southern France. Notably, he selected a location largely off the beaten path of his fellow American painters abroad. Rather than practice the detailed precision of artists inspired by the British critic John Ruskin (1819-1900) and his philosophy of truth to nature, Champney instead conveyed the atmospheric conditions of the landscape with the varying tones of the underbrush and shadows cast on the buildings. The prominent American artist John La Farge (1835-1910) commended Champney’s work in the medium of watercolor and his ability to capture the weather and distinct light in France.
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