In 1887, Walter Launt Palmer was awarded the Hallgarten Prize at the National Academy of Design for the best work by an artist under the age of thirty-five. The painting which merited this honor was entitled January, a winter landscape. This recognition signaled the beginning of an important legacy, and snow scenes became more prominent in Palmer’s oeuvre. They were met by the public with mixed reviews, as viewers tried to grasp the unique aesthetic quality of his paintings. The use of delicate blue, pink, green, and violet hues to describe shadows and reflections of light was a revolutionary concept.

By 1907, when Sundown, Walpole, New Hampshire was painted, Palmer had earned a reputation as “the painter of the American winter.” Throughout his life, he was commended for his characteristic subtlety of color and light. Sundown, Walpole, New Hampshire is a restrained and beautiful snowscape, serenely infused with the sun’s final rays. The valley, divided into three distinct, panoramic planes, glistens with muted jewel tones beneath a clear sky. Palmer’s limited palette lends unity to a strong composition. Walter Launt Palmer was a member of the National Academy of Design, Society of American Artists, Century Association, and the Salmagundi Club and exhibited his works at the Art Institute of Chicago and Exposition Universelle in Paris (1900), where he was awarded a prize. His work may be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio.

Provenance:
Presented to Buffalo Fine Arts Association, Buffalo, New York by artist, 1907
Chapellier Galleries, New York, New York, 1961
Warren Zerbe, Brooklyn, New York, 1984