Benjamin Champney, Mass./NH (1817-1907) Important oil on canvas painting of Moat Mountain from intervale, signed lower right "B. Champney 1872" 15" x 25", old gold "Foster Bros" molded frame, lined with new stretcher.
Provenance- "Moat Mountain from the Intervale," is an iconic White Mountain painting for a number of reasons. It has been featured in the North Conway Exhibit in 1965, and was the most prominent Champney work exhibited & published in the landmark "The White Mountains, Place & Perceptions" in 1980-81 which toured at the University of New Hampshire, at Dartmouth College's Hood Museum of Art, and at the New-York Historical Society. A catalogue for the exhibit will be included with the painting. For many years this painting stood as the centerpiece of the White Mountain National Bank Collection. It was exhibited & published most recently in "Personal Favorites: Collectors of White Mountain Art" at The Museum of White Mountain Art at Jackson, New Hampshire in 2015. Art Historian Charles Vogel pronounced it his "favorite" in the exhibit. It is housed in a period Foster Brothers gilt frame with a recent gilt liner. The old restoration (likely for the 1980 exhibit) wax- lined the canvas to an expanding stretcher and included minor inpaint to the upper left cloud; (there is yellowed varnish). The painting will benefit from a cleaning.