George Inness (May 1, 1825 – August 3, 1894)

Christmas Eve or Winter Moonlight

1866

"Late on the afternoon of August 3 he suggested to my mother that they take a drive, and that while she was dressing he would stroll about and look at the sunset. He went out to a point where he could best see the flaming sky, which was unusually beautiful that evening. A sunset had always moved him to the deepest emotions, and as he gazed he was filled with an ecstasy too profound, a pain too exquisite, for the frail earthly body. Just as the big red ball went down below the horizon he threw his hands into the air and exclaimed, "My God! oh, how beautiful!" and fell stricken to the ground.

A lad who was standing near by rushed to him and said:

"Are ye in liquor, mon?"

"No," gasped my father; "I am dying. Take me up-stairs to my wife." In a few moments he passed away in the arms of the woman he loved [...]" - George Inness, Jr., Life, art, and letters of George Inness