Dogwood Blossoms, 1906
Oil on canvas, 29 x 26”
Signed and dated lower left
Metcalf probably painted this scene in Old Lyme, where he began spending time in 1905. A close observer of nature, he was especially sensitive to seasonal changes. His French training and mural and illustration work had emphasized figure painting, but Metcalf gradually turned to pure landscape in Old Lyme.
A moonlit view of the Griswold House called May Night, which Metcalf painted the same year as Dogwood Blossoms, won an important prize at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., and assured the artist’s future. It became his best-known work.