Kaaterskill Clove
Sanford Robinson Gifford, 1862
Light hangs in the clove like smoke that forgot to leave. The mountains step back. Autumn is a soft fire.
About this work
A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove) is an 1862 oil by Sanford Robinson Gifford in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and one of his best-known works. Kaaterskill Clove is a deep gorge in New York's eastern Catskills, west of Palenville, that drew generations of Hudson River School painters. Gifford, born in 1823 and a leading member of the school's second generation, was known for Luminism: light and atmosphere rather than detail. Here the afternoon sun hangs in a cloudless sky and fills the gorge with golden haze. A New York reviewer who saw it new picked out what is easy to miss: a hunter with his gun and dog, nearly invisible among the ledges in the foreground, tall birches on the cliff at left, a log house in a clearing, a waterfall, the stream and a lake below. According to the Metropolitan Museum Journal, Gifford painted it in his New York studio between stints of Union Army service and showed it in 1863 under the title A Gorge in the Mountains. The name Kauterskill Falls was added in 1876, though the scene is a composition probably based on Haines Falls. The vertical canvas, 48 by 39 7/8 inches, was given to the Met in 1914 by the widow of its first owner, Morris K. Jesup.
Sources: The Met: A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove) (15.30.62) · Gerald L. Carr, "Sanford Robinson Gifford's Gorge in the Mountains Revived", Metropolitan Museum Journal 38 (2003) · Wikipedia: Kaaterskill Clove
Print facts
- Native resolution
- 3,095 × 3,711 px
- Sharp at 150 ppi up to
- 20 × 24 in
- Sizes
- Small (17 × 20 in) · $100 · 182 ppi
Medium (20 × 24 in) · $150 · 155 ppi
Large (30 × 36 in) · $300 · 103 ppi - Price includes
- Frame and US shipping · 14–21 days · 30-day returns
FAQ
Where can I buy a framed print of Kaaterskill Clove?
Here. Kaaterskill Clove is available as a framed print in three sizes: Small (17 × 20 in) for $100, Medium (20 × 24 in) for $150 and Large (30 × 36 in) for $300. Prices include the frame and US shipping; delivery takes 14–21 days, with 30-day returns.
What size works best for Kaaterskill Clove?
The file is 3,095 × 3,711 px. Medium (20 × 24 in) is the largest size that prints at 150 ppi or more (155 ppi), the sharpest choice for close viewing; Large (30 × 36 in) prints at 103 ppi, fine from a few feet away but softer up close.
Is it legal to print Kaaterskill Clove?
Yes. Kaaterskill Clove is in the public domain: its copyright, if it ever had one, expired long ago. In the United States a faithful photograph of a public-domain painting does not create a new copyright (Bridgeman v. Corel, 1999), so the image can be printed and sold freely.
