In August 1883 a volcano erupted on the Pacific island of Krakatoa; particulates in the atmosphere caused spectacular sunrises and sunsets around the world for several months. Simon Winchester’s book Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded (2004), describes the eruption’s global repercussions. As I read the book, I was pleasantly surprised to find a mention of my hometown. Mr. Winchester wrote that Frederic Edwin Church, a world-famous artist, had traveled to Chaumont in December of that year to paint a picture of the fiery sky over Lake Ontario. The painting was titled “Sunset Over the Ice on Chaumont Bay.” (You can see a copy of it here: https://www.art.com/products/p13951357-sa-i2748238/frederic-edwin-church-sunset-over-the-ice.htm)
While trying to learn more about the Church painting, I stumbled across a virtually identical watercolor called “The Ice On Chaumont Bay,” by lesser-known artist Peter Caledon Cameron. (For comparison, please view it here: http://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2590M/lots/520) The two paintings are both watercolors, show the same view, use similar colors, and are painted in the same style. Cameron’s painting was inscribed with the date December 27, 1883 and Frederic Edwin Church's picture was painted on December 28, 1883, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Art Inventories Catalog. I bought a print of the work attributed to Church; there’s no visible signature on it or on any online copies. However, Cameron’s painting has an inscription on the bottom that reads "Sunset on the Eve of Mr. & Mrs. G. Dillenbeck's Silver Wedding Anniversary. Dec 27 1883. Presented with the Artist's Compliments." I believe he’s referring to George and Ellen Hoxie Dillenback of Chaumont, who were married in 1858, and therefore would have celebrated their 25th anniversary in 1883. (Cameron spelled the name "Dillenbeck" on the painting, but the name is "Dillenback" on their mausoleum here in Chaumont.) The Dillenbacks lived in a large stone house near Chaumont Bay. The vantage point of both paintings appears to be from a spot only a stone’s throw from the Dillenback house. Peter Caledon Cameron (1852-1934) was born in Scotland. He was certified a “British government art master” at the National Art Training School in London in 1883. That October he arrived at the Port of New York, and by December had made his way to Chaumont. He was most likely seeking a good view of the brilliant sunset over an open body of water to the west. Newspaper articles show that he was in Jefferson County (at least from time to time) for the next few years, and he seems to have been living in Watertown in 1886. By 1900 he was living in Philadelphia and was working on creating illustrations for a science fiction novel by Franklin Littell. He spent the rest of his life in that city. Considering that Church's Chaumont painting is almost identical to Cameron's, appears to have been painted from the same spot, and was dated the day after the one attributed to Cameron, I suspected that the two artists must have been traveling together, and that perhaps both had stayed as guests at the Dillenback house. I figured that it couldn’t be just a coincidence that two well-known artists were in Chaumont, painting in the same spot, at the same time. I ran these thoughts past Ida Brier, the archivist at Olana, Frederic Edwin Church's Hudson River mansion, which is now a State Historic Site. She dug in to the archival material on Church and to our surprise found documentation that Frederic Edwin Church was in Mexico in December 1883. She even looked into his whereabouts on December 28, 1888 (in case there was a misreading of the painting’s date), but found that on that date he’d written a letter stating that he was at Olana. She could find no evidence that Church had ever traveled to Chaumont. She also told me that, other than his architectural sketches for the design of Olana, Church had never been known to work in watercolors. (On the other hand, Peter Caledon Cameron worked exclusively in watercolors.) She and I were also both struck by the coincidence that “Sunset Over the Ice on Chaumont Bay,” which has for years been known in the art world as the work of Frederic Edwin Church, is in a private collection in Philadelphia, where Peter Caledon Cameron spent the last four decades of his life. My suspicion is that Cameron was the artist of both paintings. Cameron never married or had children, so I'm not sure who would have inherited his works upon his death. I have to wonder if someone found, or inherited, an unsigned painting and took the liberty of attributing it to a much more famous, and lucrative, artist. (In 1979 Church’s “The Icebergs” sold for $2.5 million, making headlines and setting a new record for the highest amount ever paid for an American painting. In contrast, Cameron’s Chaumont painting sold at auction in 2012 for only $385.) I’ve tried in vain to find out who owns the painting attributed to Church, and how it ever came to be linked with him. For several months I’ve tried emailing all of the art museums in Philadelphia, posting notices on Philadelphia art blogs, and even written to Simon Winchester (twice), but no one has responded to my inquiries yet. In the meantime, I’m afraid that somebody in Philadelphia has a painting that is worth much less than they think it is. Sources: · Conversations with Ida Brier, the Librarian/Archivist at Olana State Historic Site · Skinner Auctioneers and Appraisers site at http://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2590M/lots/520 · Schwarz Gallery of Philadelphia at http://www.schwarzgallery.com/artist/330/Peter-Caledon-Cameron · Archives of the Watertown Daily Times through NYS Historic Newspapers at http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/titles/places/new_york/jefferson/ · 1882 Albany City Directory · Dillenback family records on Ancestry.com · Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded By Simon Winchester (excerpt available at https://books.google.com/) · Temple University archives at https://sites.temple.edu/librarynews/tag/people/ · Smithsonian Institution Art Inventories catalog at http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID:siris_ari_178167 This is the painting attributed to Cameron:
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