Extraordinary Gifts: Selected Paintings from The Procter and Gamble Collection at the Cincinnati Art Museum February 15, 2003 to September 12, 2004 Extraordinary Gifts: Selected Paintings from The Procter and Gamble Collection at the Cincinnati Art Museum Cincinnati Art Museum logo
A Word from P&G - Overview of Extraordinary Gifts: Selected Paintings from The Procter and Gamble Collection at the Cincinnati Art Museum Cincinnati Painters and the Big Picture - discusses how Cincinnati Artists fit into a larger art historical perspective The Works from The P&G Collection - themed galleries of the works in the show Index by Artist Name - a list of all the artists represented in the show and the works they completed Go back to the Cincinnati Art Museum Home page
William Louis Sonntag (1822–1900)
Landscape with Figures by a Lake, 1854
oil on canvas
31 x 47 in.

This view was painted by Sonntag in 1854, possibly in the Cincinnati area. Large paintings such as these were not actually painted outdoors, but made in the artist’s studio in the city. Sonntag would create small sketches and watercolor studies on site, then use them as reference tools for the finished painting. This was a common practice for the group of painters in America known as the Hudson River School, of which Sonntag was considered a member. Specializing in images of the Hudson River Valley and the newly opened West, the Hudson River style emphasized dramatic, uniquely American landscapes. Using this painstakingly detailed panoramic composition of a group of men near a lake, Sonntag, like the Hudson River painters, strove to draw attention to the spectacular vistas of the American terrain.