BENSELL, George Frederick (1837-1879. Closing In. Ca. 1855.

BENSELL, George Frederick (1837-1879)Closing InOil on boardCirca 185529 3/4" x 36" board; 35" x 41 1/2" framed Provenance: Edward Eberstadt & Sons, New York; Mr. William B. Ruger. The American West was a captivating subject for artists of the nineteenth-century. The American War of Independence had inspired a national need for an identity divorced from that of Britain and American artists found this in the majestic landscape and people of the American West. Their paintings answered such critics as the Reverend Sydney Smith, who in his 1820 article for the Edinburgh Review, asked: "In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or goes to an American play? Or looks at an American picture or statue?" Moreover, they responded to the call of their fellow countrymen who greatly desired images of their newly founded nation. In an 1816 address delivered at the opening ceremonies of the American Academy of the Fine Arts, the governor of New York state, De Witt Clinton, exa