Lot 145: William McIlvaine (American, 1813-1867) Views of the Susquehanna River, N.Y. & E.R.R., a set of five: approx. 24 x 33cm (9 1/2 x 13in) each

Views of the Susquehanna River, N.Y. & E.R.R., a set of five: 1. Snake Creek and the valley of Susquehanna near Great Bend;
2. Snake Creek near Great Bend;
3. Susquehanna River near Great Bend;
4. Stanueca viaduct, distant view;
5. Water station beyond the Oquaga House deposit
most inscribed with titles; one signed 'McIlvaine' dated '1852' (lower right)
watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour
approx. 24 x 33cm (9 1/2 x 13in) each
(5)

Provenance:
Property of Willis Group, Global Insurance Brokers.

Similar works by McIlvaine were published in the exhibition catalogue for 'Susquehanna, Images of the Settled Landscape' at the Roberson Art Center for the Arts & Sciences in Binghamton, N.Y., in 1981:

"The story of the Susquehanna in the American visual and literary imagination is the dream and reality of an inhabited landscape, of a valley peopled, of a territory settled, divided, tamed and accommodated for human use... We need to read these landscapes, in other words, to recover our vision of the side of the American dream which embodies our hopes of realizing our human responsibilities to one another, trying to find a harmonious balance in the landscape rather than standing in appreciation of the otherness of the landscape followed by exploitation of its resources and destruction of its very shapes and forms." (Ibid.)