About this artist
George Elbert Burr (1859- 1939)
Born in Monroe Falls, Ohio, George Elbert Burr studied in Europe and at the Art Institute of Chicago. As a traveling artist , he made etchings for magazine illustrations. He captured the grandeur of the American West in his etchings, pastel drawings, and watercolors.
He enjoyed success early, providing illustrations for Harper's, Scribner's Magazine, Frank Leslie's Weekly, and The Cosmopolitan. In 1892, he began a four-year project illustrating a catalog of Heber R. Bishop's collection of jade antiquities for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This project, producing etchings of over a thousand artifacts, paid well enough for Burr with his wife to embark on an extended tour of Europe upon its completion. Over the next five years, they spent time in Italy, Germany, England, and Wales. Burr amassed sketches and watercolors that would provide the source material for his copper plate etchings of European scenes.
Burr's works are in the collections of the Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Brooklyn Museum of Art.
The work presented here is an original from a limited number of Burr's highly acclaimed oeuvre of European scenes executed during his extented tour to Europe in1890s. It offers a vibrant picture of Burr's artistic legacy—layered, complex, and nuanced, it's Imbued with his precise delicacy and elegance—hallmarks of Burr's mature art. Everything about this work exudes a magical quality and represents a peak in the artist's career.
Today, we recognize him as a distinctive artist of his generation.
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George Elbert Burr (1859-1939)
First offering of a rare
artwork by George Elbert Burr,
from his highly acclaimed oeuvre
of European scenes.
A compelling narrative Imbued with
precise delicacy and
elegance—hallmarks of Burr’s
mature art—brought to life
the timeless charm of Italy,
of a way of life lived
in continuity for centuries
unaffected by time.
Layered, complex, and nuanced,
Burr rendered
such compelling narrative
through harmonization
of precise details
and compositional elements
such as the flower stalls
and their canopies,
with atmospheric setting
bathed in a soft light, an observation
he brilliantly captured.
His adeptness at combining
architectural observation
and atmospheric perspective
with a variety of timeless qualities
like color and textures
is demonstrated in this depiction.
Burr’s unique style infused the scene
with vitality and timeless charm,
which indeed is reminiscent
of a way of life
lived in continuity for centuries.