Label
View at Underhill, Vermont, 1892
Charles L. Heyde (c. 1832-1892)
Burlington, VT
Oil on canvas
Museum Purchase, 1949.24.1
Charles Louis Heyde was one of the most prolific and celebrated Vermont artists of the 19th century. From 1856 until his death, he made Burlington his home, painting numerous scenes of Mount Mansfield, the Winooski River, and the High Bridge. He won a competition sponsored by the Vermont Historical Society in 1862 to redesign the Vermont coat-of-arms.
Heyde married Walt Whitman's sister Hannah, but the marriage was not happy. Alcoholism and dementia soon caused his business and personal life to fall apart. His later works, of which this is one, do not show nearly the quality of his output during his younger years. He died shortly after this painting was produced in the Vermont State Asylum in Waterbury.