Recent Artwork Acquisition
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site![](images/carmiencke.JPG) |
Hyde Park, 1856
Johann Hermann Carmiencke
American, born Germany
1810-1867
oil on canvas, 44.5 x 65.5 cm.
(17 ½ x 25 ¾ in.)
Museum purchase with funds provided through exchange agreement
with Roosevelt-Vanderbilt Historical Association
VAMA 5021
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Johann Hermann Carmiencke's portrait of the Langdon
house at Hyde Park as it appeared in 1856 documents an important
chapter in the estate's two hundred year history. This scenic
area on the banks of the Hudson River, carefully developed under
five generations of owners, represents a layering of historical
periods with an impressive continuity.
In 1847, the celebrated landscapist Andrew Jackson Downing
admitted that "Hyde Park
has been justly celebrated
as one of the finest specimens of the modern style of Landscape
Gardening in America. Nature has, indeed, done much for this
place as the grounds are finely varied, beautifully watered by
a lively stream, and the views are inexpressibly striking from
the neighborhood of the house itself, including, as they do,
the noble Hudson for sixty miles in its course, through rich
valleys and bold mountains." It was this house and the surrounding
landscape that attracted Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt to the
estate in 1895.
During their 45-year period of ownership, the last in which
the estate was privately owned, the Vanderbilts initiated extensive
work over the estate, yet they remained sensitive to the estate's
long and important history, retaining many features of the landscape
they had inherited from the Langdons.
Initially, the Vanderbilts intended to remodel the Langdon
house, adding new wings to the north and south. Vanderbilt hired
the firm McKim, Mead and White to carry out the renovations,
but this very soon came to a halt when the house was discovered
to have severe structural problems. Plans were then developed
for an entirely new structure that retained the siting and general
appearance of the Langdon house, including Mrs. Vanderbilt's
favorite feature-the circular portico facing the river.
Carmiencke was born at Hamburg, Germany in 1810 and received
his formal training at both Dresden and Copenhagen. Travelling
as an artist throughout Sweden, Bavaria, and Italy, he established
his reputation as a landscape painter and was appointed court
painter to Christian VIII in 1846. He held that post until 1851
when he left Europe for New York. Carmiencke was a member of
the Academy of Brooklyn exhibiting works frequently at the National
Academy, Pennsylvania Academy, and Maryland Historical Society.
He is remembered as one of the Hudson River School of painters.
Several other landscapes of Hyde Park and the surrounding area
by Carmiencke survive in public and private collections. He died
at New York in 1867.
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