Edward Gay (1837-1928) American, Oil on Canvas "Sunset in the Marshes." Signed bottom left. Title and attribution on plaque at bottom middle of frame. Depicts a stunning view of trees and bushes along a meandering river. 

Condition: Repair patch on verso. Painting has some small spots. 

Overall Size: 19 x 21 1/2 in. 

Sight Size: 14 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. 

#4116 . 

Edward Gay was born in 1837 in Dublin, Ireland. During the Great Potato Famine his family relocated to the United States in 1848, alongside hundreds of thousands of other Irish emigrants. Growing up in Albany, New York, he met local Hudson River School artist and fellow immigrant James Hart, who took him under his wing. His brother William Hart, as well as George Boughton, also gave Gay lessons. By 1858, at the age of just twenty-one, Gay was exhibiting at the National Academy of Design in New York. He traveled to Europe to study in 1861, settling in Karlsruhe, Germany the following year. He studied with historical painters Johann Schirmer and Karl Friedrich Lessing for the next two years before returning to the United States. In 1868 he moved to New York City, but decided to move to Mount Vernon two years later to accommodate the needs of a growing family. He spent most of the rest of his life there, painting southern Westchester County landscapes. Early on he was considered the typical Hudson River School artist, but later after discovering the work of John Constable he adopted a Barbizon manner by capturing the mood and light of many of Westchester County’s quiet nooks and crannies. In 1905 he bought a summer home in the artist colony of Cragsmoor, and divided his time between there and Mount Vernon until passing from natural causes in 1928. He lived a long and successful life, becoming a member of both the Century Association and the prestigious Union League Club of New York, and always insisting that he belonged to no specific school of art, simply painting “what he saw… no more, no less.” His works found their way into many museums and public collections, and are still on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Historical Society, the Westchester Woman’s Club in Mount Vernon, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri.

Repair patch on verso. Painting has some small spots.