William Louis Sonntag
1822 – 1900

Throughout most of his life, William Louis Sonntag painted in the manner of the Hudson River School , though late in his career, he made a switch to more Barbizon-oriented paintings. Through born in Pennsylvania , Sonntag grew up in Cincinnati as one of the rare members of the Hudson River School who was actually what in the early nineteenth century might be termed a “Westerner”. While he decided relatively early in his life that he wished to be a professional artist, his father did not support his goal and apprenticed him first to a carpenter, then to an architect. When Sonntag refused to embrace either career, his father surrendered, though not to the point of procuring art lessons. Therefore largely self-taught, Sonntag nonetheless quickly became a popular landscape painter, specializing in the grandiose scenic views that were popularized by Thomas Cole and his followers. By the early 1850s, he was receiving commissions from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to commemorate scenes along the company's route.

In 1853, he began exhibiting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and, having made the acquaintance of some other artists, arranged to accompany them on his first trip to Europe along with his bride of two years. The Sonntags spent most of their time in Italy where William repeatedly painted scenes of the Italian countryside. When they returned to America , the Sonntags settled in New York where William joined a number of artistic organizations including the National Academy of Design.

Extremely prolific, Sonntag was lucky that his critical reputation, probably because of his switch to the Barbizon style, never suffered the fall from grace experienced by most of the other Hudson River School artists. In the last years of his life, he had paintings exhibited in New York , Boston , Chicago , St. Louis , San Francisco , and Paris .

Other Links