William Louis Sonntag Sr.

William Louis Sonntag Sr. (1822–1900) was an American landscape painter.[1]

Shenandoah Valley, oil on canvas, William Louis Sonntag Sr., 1859–1860. Virginia Historical Society

Life and work

Born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1822, he traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, at the age of 21 and perfected his technique. Becoming an established and highly regarded landscape artist, he began making trips to Florence, Italy in 1853. Several of these trips were made with his friend Robert Scott Duncanson.

In 1856, Sonntag permanently moved to New York to become a leading painter of Romantic landscapes of several scenes from his travels in Italy.[2] Sonntag was a member of the group known as the Hudson River School. Some of his paintings go beyond the movement to a grandiose expression of Manifest Destiny.[3]

There is strong evidence that several of Sonntag's pieces were scenes he had seen from photographs only. Grand Canyon, Yellowstone River, Wyoming, for example, is a landscape that Sonntag never traveled to. It is most likely based on a photograph taken by Frank Jay Haynes of the canyon in 1885.[2]

His son, William Louis Sonntag Jr. (1869–1898), was also a painter, and an illustrator.[4]

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References
  1. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/archive/200401A51.html
  2. Andrews, Gail (January 2011). Birmingham Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection. London: Giles. p. 127. ISBN 978-1904832775. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  3. Masterpieces East and West: from the Collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art. Birmingham, Alabama: Rizzoli International Publications. June 1992. p. 194. ISBN 978-0931394379.
  4. "William Louis Sonntag Jr". Mary Ran Gallery. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
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