Featured 19th Century Painter: Daniel Charles Grose (American 1838 – 1900)
- March 15, 2021 09:14
There were a number of 19th century notables also named Daniel Grose; however, our Daniel Grose is the notable Washington, D.C. landscapist. While his early history is rather sketchy; he is known to have painted in Canada in the 1860s as his earliest known paintings are landscapes of Quebec Province. Grose’s art training is also unknown; however, one can discern the apparent Hudson River School influence in his paintings. The Hudson River originates in the Adirondacks, the spectacular scenery of which inspired 19th-century American landscape painters. Given proximity to Quebec Province, this area would have been attractive to Grose. He is known to have painted Bolton’s Landing at Lake George, NY, located at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains. Although the 1870s found him in Washington, D.C., artist Daniel Charles Grose still made forays northward, capturing the vistas of Wissahickon Creek (Philadelphia), the Hudson River valley, Mt. Katahdin (Maine), and the White Mountains (New Hampshire). The spectacular scenery of the American west, also beckoned him—he painted scenes of the Rocky Mountains (Colorado), Bridal Veil Falls in the Yosemite Valley (California) and the Pacific Northwest. In 1881, he married Washing D.C. artist, Estella Smith, daughter of Civil War Captain, Dwight Hayden Smith. The couple lived in New York City for a short period before leaving on a journey that took them around the world. For five years, they toured and painted before returning to Washington, D.C. Regardless of his roaming, his anchor was Washington, D.C.
