William Hart (1823-1894), British-American
Autumn Morning, 1876
OIL ON CANVAS, 12 ½ x 20 ½ inches
Gift of Horace Fairbanks

William Hart, the older brother of James M. Hart, spent most of his career in the United States. Less successful than his academically trained brother, William nevertheless achieved modest recognition during the course of his long artistic career and became the first president of the Brooklyn Academy of Design in 1865.

Hart's intimate depiction of fall in New England accentuates the cycle of nature by embellishing the vibrant fall foliage with both a fallen, skeletal tree in the lower left and a range of younger trees in the middle ground that have not yet begun to turn.