American Landscape Painting “Farm at Rockaway, New Jersey” by Carl Weber

An incredibly fine and vivid work in oil on canvas of a rural farm house with figures walking along a ruddy path before an expansive landscape under brilliant clouds. The work is signed lower left in his bold and typical script “Carl Weber” and retains old labels verso from the Frank Schwarz gallery in Philadelphia from at least two instances where it was carried in their gallery. An old oxidized and nearly illegible business card for Carl Weber is affixed verso and is inscribed “View at Rockaway N.J. / Morris County / B $ .250” and an old framers label is also attached noting restoration completed on the original frame. A deteriorated label is affixed to the top of the frame in a tiny plastic bag. The work is housed in an original giltwood frame.

ARTIST
Born in Philadelphia in 1855 to the landscape artist Gottlieb Daniel Paul Weber (German, 1823-1916), who had moved to Philadelphia for work in 1848/1849, Carl studied under his father alongside his cousin, the landscape painter Carl Philipp Weber (American, 1849-1921).

In 1857 Weber traveled with his father to Scotland and toured Germany, settling for a time in his father’s hometown of Darmstadt, Germany in 1860 where he studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Art under the landscape painter Karl Raupp (1837–1918) and took private lessons from Jakob Becker (1810–1872) and Johann Eduard von Steinle (1810–1886).

Weber returned to Philadelphia in the mid-to-late 1870s where he shared a studio with his cousin, Carl Philipp Weber. He devoted himself exclusively to landscape paintings and extensively painted the landscapes throughout rural Eastern Pennsylvania as well as nearby New Jersey, scenes throughout New Hampshire and elsewhere in the New England States as well as Illinois. While his work would remain rooted in the German Romantic traditions of his formal academic training, his work was heavily influenced by the French Barbizon. Despite the large number of oil paintings he produced, he excelled at watercolor painting. In his 1881 through 1886 submissions to the National Academy of Design, Weber listed his studio address as 238 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, while his 1893 submission noted a move to 816 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

Weber’s exhibitions include the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1876 through 1905), the Philadelphia Art Club (1891 through 1908) and the National Academy of Design (1881 through 1893). He was awarded a Gold Medal in 1902 by the American Art Association, received Honorable Mention at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, again being recognized with Honorable Mention at the 1895 Atlanta Exposition.

The close working relationship and nearness in age between Carl Weber and his cousin Carl Philipp Weber has led to some confusion among galleries and auction houses in attributing their work. 

While both men focused on landscapes with an overall Barbizon influence, Carl Weber was heavily influenced by his father’s passion for romantic elements and he excelled at watercolor painting, while his cousin became a very accomplished painter of coastal scenes and landscapes with a distinctive luminist style of painting. Further distinguishing the men is the signatures. Carl Weber exclusively signed his work “Carl Weber” in bold flowing script, generally with great flourish to the W and a swirling ellipses from the R underlining the signature; Carl Phillip Weber signed his work for the most part as “Carl Ph. Weber” in a more standard block script. For examples of the differences in taste, style and signatures, view our current gallery inventory and our archives; we have carried works from both artists and have extensive close up photography available for comparison studies.

Artist Listings & Bibliography:

Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, Opitz, 1983, p. 988
E. Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Vol. XIV, Gründ, 2006, p. 705
Exhibition of the National Academy, 1861-1900, Vol. II, Kennedy Galleries, 1973, p. 1000-1001
The New York Society’s Dictionary of Artists in America 1564-1860, Groce & Wallace, 1979, p. 668 [bio for Paul Weber]

Measurements: 20 1/4″ H x 36″ W [canvas]; 31 3/4″ H x 47 1/4″ W x 2 3/4″ D [frame]

Condition Report:
Linen is wax lined on cotton. Surface professionally conserved (cleaned, sealed in a fresh Damar varnish). Light craquelure throughout, canvas remaining stable and in excellent condition. Under UV examination, showing light flaring from the fresh varnish; inpainting to the lower left corner at edge of the frame; scattered inpainting in the center group of trees throughout the leaves; trace touchups to the foliage above the log in the lower right corner; other spot touchups.