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"A GLIMPSE OF THE SEA" PAINTING IN OIL ON CANVAS BY JOHN CARLETON WIGGINS
Titled verso "A Glimpse of the Sea, Carleton Wiggins, Lyme, Conn"; signed Carleton Wiggins, dated illegibly
Item # 810UQC15L
An exceptional painting executed in oil on canvas by John Carleton Wiggins, generally preferring simply Carleton Wiggins, the scene captures a flock of sheep grazing in a lush hillside scattered with colorful plants and bushes before the distant waters of the Atlantic. A distinct development over his typical brush style, this powerful work is of an inordinately heavy impasto with a level of paint build-up that borders on relief. The tonalism qualities of the scene give an overall heavy atmosphere to a bright and vibrant autumn day, giving the viewer a certain bleariness and edge-bokeh like one would achieve looking at the sheep from a distant hillside through an old telescope. Wiggins was a master of using light and a complex palette to achieve mood in his scenes, something that is clearly accomplished in this scene with sunlight only hinted at behind the dense cloud cover, but spot-lighted down through the center of the field through the brilliant reflection in the distant waters. His ability to render ripple to such far off waters is remarkable. Typical of his work, it is signed in his standard script "Carleton Wiggins" lower left over an illegible date. The back of the canvas is titled, presumably in charcoal, "A Glimpse of the Sea, Carleton Wiggins, Lyme, Conn.". It is framed in a contemporary plein-air gilt wood composition frame.
Measurements: 35 1/4" H x 43 5/8" W x 2" D [frame]; 28" H x 36" W [canvas]
Condition Report:
Contemporary frame. Original lining and stretchers, stretcher wedges replaced. Professionally conserved: craquelure stabilized, cleaned and varnished. No observed inpainting under UV. Craquelure throughout. In fine presentation-ready condition.