Old Tower at Avignon (c. 1875): Artwork and History

Old Tower at Avignon (c. 1875) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Samuel Colman (American, 1832–1920).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Old Tower at Avignon depicts a 14th-century fortress in southern France. A noted colorist for his use of saturated hues, Samuel Colman captured the romance of the age-old structure amid sunlight, storm clouds, and reflections on the Rhône River. An accomplished landscapist, Colman began his career depicting New England scenery, as did his contemporaries among the Hudson River School, the dominant style of landscape painting in mid-19th-century America. After first going to Europe to study in 1860, Colman traveled extensively throughout his long career, traversing France, Italy, Spain, North Africa, Mexico, and the American West, among other destinations.

Object facts

• Title: Old Tower at Avignon
• Date: c. 1875
• Artist attribution: Samuel Colman (American, 1832–1920)
• Place of origin: United States
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 20.3 × 23.7 cm (8 × 9 5/16 in.)
• Type: Painting
• Department: Arts of the Americas
• Reference number: 1933.1187

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.