Elizabeth Wentworth Roberts (Philadelphia, 1871 - 1927, Concord)
The River at Concord, 1915
Oil on canvas, 70 x 91 cm (27 9/16 x 35 13/16 in.)
A river snakes away from the viewer and flows past large trees and a white house in this oil painting. Cool colors compose the scene, with the river predominantly made up of shades of blue, black, and purple. The river is as wide as the painting in the foreground then snakes into the background where it turns sharply to the right and disappears behind a bank with a white house atop it. The house sits on a golden raised bank of the river and is opposite two bare trees across the river. The background is a thick forest comprised of many trees.
Macknight Room
Commentary
Elizabeth Wentworth Roberts painted this landscape on the Concord River, in Concord, Massachusetts. Originally from Philadelphia, Roberts moved to Concord in 1900 with her partner, golf champion Grace Keyes. Having studied painting in Europe for almost 10 years, Roberts found inspiration in the New England countryside. Roberts wrote to Isabella Stewart Gardner after she purchased the painting, "Mr. Turner of Doll & Richards tells me that "the blue & gold landscape" has been sent to you, and I would like to have you know how much pleasure it gives me to feel that you cared enough about the pictures to buy one… Concord is an ideal place for work..."Although Isabella supported women artists, authors, and designers, there are few pictures by women painters in the collection. Isabella installed this one in the Macknight Room near her desk. She also displayed Roberts’ letter in the Modern Painters and Sculptors Case in the Long Gallery next to correspondence from her better known contemporaries: Cecilia Beaux, John La Farge, and Anders Zorn.