Landscape with Figures

 
Landscape with Figures
Image Rights & Reproductions Requirements
Artist
Creation date
Materials
oil on canvas
Dimensions
33 x 42 in. 39 1/2 x 48 3/4 x 3 1/8 in. (framed)
Credit line
Miscellaneous Painting Fund
Accession number
1991.130
Collection
American
Not Currently On View

The subject of this painting resembles a nativity scene with Mary, baby Jesus, and Joseph in a landscape setting.

Glessing was a painter of theatrical scenery and landscapes.

When this scene was painted, the artist was in Indianapolis decorating the Metropolitan Theatre, which later became the Park.

Purchased from the parents of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Wilbur circa 1961 in the Midwest; sold to the museum by Mrs. Stuart Wilbur in 1991
Reproduction of these images, including downloading, is prohibited without written authorization from VAGA.

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Indiana

Thomas B. Glessing

Landscape with Figures, 1859

32 x 42 inches

oil on canvas

Miscellaneous Painting Fund

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Thomas Glessing was born in London, but settled in America when he was twenty years old.  He was best known for his theatrical scenery and landscapes.  Glessing also decorated the interior of Old Fellows Hall in Indianapolis and was commissioned to paint a series of large canvases that illustrate the city’s history for the first Indiana exposition in 1873.  Glessing left Indianapolis in 1873 to accept a position as scenic painter at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

In 1859, at the time Glessing painted Landscape with Figures, he was in Indianapolis decorating the Metropolitan Theatre.  Glessing’s landscape shows the influence of Indiana artist Jacob Cox as well as knowledge of his English heritage.  His inclusion of figures turns this romantic landscape into a genre scene that is reminiscent of the Holy Family, complete with manger, mother and child, Joseph and John.

Reference

Mary Q. Burnet.  Art and Artists of Indiana, New York: The Century Company, 1921. Reprinted by Unigraphic, Inc., 1981.  ASIN: B002J7QO2K