Head of Little Girl
Object number86.1.49
Artist
George Hetzel
(1826 - 1899)
Datec. 1850
MediumOil on canvas; Wood
Credit LineGift of Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
DescriptionFramed oil painting. Bust portrait of a young girl. She has curled brown hair and is wearing a pink dress.DimensionsHeight x Width: 20.875 × 19 in. (53 × 48.3 cm)InscriptionsJJ Gillespie Co/Fine Arts/630 Liberty Ave/Pittsburgh,Penna-- Head of a Little Girl/George Hetzel -- No 4.1972.28/Artist Hetzel/Owner Kantner
Historical NotesAt some point this painting was owned by Kantner, who was the granddaughter of the artist George Hetzel. In 1977 it was donated to the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.Label TextThe sensitive pose of this young girl captures a sentimental realism indicative of many artists working in the mid 19th century, including one of Pittsburgh’s most noted artists George Hetzel, Jr. In 1839 Hetzel began his artistic career as an apprentice with a Pittsburgh house and sign painting business. He attended the Düsseldorf Academy in Germany in 1847 to study portrait and still-life painting. Upon his return to Pittsburgh two years later, Hetzel worked painting decorative scenes in steamboat cabins. Over the next several years, he entered paintings in several prominent exhibitions including the National Academy of Design, New York, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and the Pittsburgh Art Association exhibitions. In 1866, Hetzel was invited on a trout fishing expedition outside Johnstown, an area known as Scalp Level. The beauty of the area inspired him to invite other regional artists to the area the following year. He became the leading figure in a loose-knit school of artists who painted at Scalp Level throughout the 19th century.
Subjects
On View
On viewCollections
Joseph Hugo
Albert Francis King
Lila B. Hetzel
