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Champney, Mary Caroline, et al.

[Small archive of the family of artist Benjamin Champney, including a journal of a tour of Europe kept by his wife].

Boston to Paris and various other European locales, 1865. 18mo. 109 pp. manuscript journal; salt print portrait of Mrs. Champney, 7.25” x 5.25”; lot of 22 manuscript letters (77 pp.) addressed to or concerning her, with 3 pp. miscellaneous family papers.

Caroline Champney’s manuscript journal detailing an 1865 tour of Europe undertaken with her husband, the eminent New Hampshire painter and founder of the “North Conway Colony,” Benjamin Crackbone Champney, through England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and ending in Paris, with additional family materials.

In 1853 Benjamin Champney (1817–1907), the White Mountain School painter, married Miss Mary Caroline Brooks (referred to by the family as Caroline and Carrie) of Indiana, “but of good New England stock, in fact she was a remote relative of mine,” writes Benjamin in his autobiography Sixty Years’ Memories of Art and Artists (1890). In chapter XIV of Sixty Years’, Benjamin would make note of the seven-month trip documented by his wife in this manuscript. By the 1860s, he had already spent much of the 1840s and ‘50s studying and traveling throughout Europe. Returning to the United States, he became famous for his panorama of the Rhine River which he exhibited in Boston and New York. In 1854, he would embark on a painting trip to Germany and Switzerland with the eminent Hudson River School painter John Frederick Kensett. While having explored the White Mountains prior to his trips to Europe, upon his return from overseas Champney would find them “something more than terrestrial” (Benjamin Champney at newhampshirelakesandmountains.com).

Mr. and Mrs. Champney’s journey to Europe—which Benjamin describes as proceeding largely “through the usual tourist’s tracks”—begins in Boston, in the company of two young ladies, the Misses Stearns who will travel with them throughout most of their tour of Europe (Sixty Years’). They arrive in New York on the 8th of June, visiting the Vanderbilt, a war steamer, and also the New National Academy of Design. On the morning of the 10th they breakfast with John Kensett and later that day embark to Europe on a German steamer. Upon departing, Caroline writes they were “instantly plunged into a sea of the most abject misery” due to a “tumultuous sea.” They arrive on the 23rd of June in Southampton, England and visit Netley Abbey—“so full of interest and beauty was it”—the road leading there full of “picturesque homes” and surroundings. On the 24th they take a steamer to Le Havre, France, and make their way to Rouen, “admiring the wonderful Cathedral for which Rouen is renowned,” which was begun in the 11th century. Caroline comments: “We are all resolved to see as much as possible of such wonderful specimens of architecture.” Arriving in Paris on the 26th, they visit galleries on the 29th. On July 2nd they visit various churches and the fountains of Versailles; upon seeing these fountains, Caroline reflects: “much art almost destroys the beauty of nature.” On the 4th they head toward Brussels, making way towards Cologne, the latter of which they reach on the 6th; here they promptly visit the Cathedral of Cologne, which she remarks is “more wonderful than any that we have yet seen.” At this Cathedral they see windows painted by the great artists Albrecht Dürer and Wilhelm von Kaulbach. In Cologne they stay in a hotel on the Rhine River and ride donkeys to a nearby castle.

On July 31st they arrive in Brummen, Netherlands by way of a steamer on the Rhine. Here, due to frequent rain, the party is forced to spend most of its time indoors, which, as Caroline remarks, is “unfortunate for painting for Mr Champney.” On August 3rd they begin making their way to Flüelen, arriving in Eisingen on the 6th and finally reaching Brienz, Switzerland on the 12th where they watch gales plunge from the tops of mountains and witness a concert in town that night. On the 14th, they visit Interlaken and on the 16th they unsuccessfully try to find the ruins of the Unspunnen Castle in Wilderswil. On the 18th, Caroline visits a “studio of pictures”:

the studio pleased me much being very picturesque, the pictures although rough possessed much that was fine, added my name to the list of visitors, found among the names Mr Champney and the Misses Stearns which was rather amusing as our party visited the studios in quite a detached manner.

On August 20th, while visiting Fribourg, they see the ancient lime tree planted on the occasion of the Battle of Morat, 1476. During this period Caroline spends much of her idle time reading French. On August 21st they stop in Lausanne on their way to Bernex and then arrive in Geneva on the 24th, where they see the house in which John Calvin died. On the 29th they arrive in Martigny where they visit the castle of Chillon and see the stone pillar to which François Bonivard was chained.

From the 13th of September, the next four months of their trip documented in Caroline’s journal are plagued by her sickness which forces them to stay in Meyringen for almost a month. On October 14th they make way toward Porlezza, Italy by way of a steamer. Upon arriving, they explore the nearby lakes and take a steamer to Calico where they visit an ancient villa. On October 25th they learn “Mrs [?] Champney has passed away” (perhaps Benjamin’s mother), having “suffered so much for years.” By November 7th, Caroline has seen four Physicians while in Europe; during the period in which she is convalescing in Italy, Mr. Champney is frequently described as painting in the house and offering his wife great comfort. On the 13th, Champney and their friends the Cliffords visit Dongo to sketch. During this period, Caroline recounts one specific “painting expedition” with her husband:

In the morning in a [?] boat for Menaggio with Mr Clifford & wife and Mr Champney on a painting expedition. Walked a long long distance over the fine road from Menaggio to Porlezza, but the artists not finding a subject near enough retraced their steps selecting one nearer a lake Como. The views from the road are wonderfully fine.

In his Sixty Years’, Benjamin fondly recalled of this moment in their trip: “It was charming to get back to Italy again, as the autumn was coming on, and the sunny days on the shores of Como brought back health and strength to Mrs. C.

On the 16th, they leave Como for Milan en route to Paris, and reach Milan that evening, visiting the Scala theatre and seeing the cathedral of Milan on the 18th, which Caroline compares to the Cathedral they visited in Cologne. On November 23rd, they make for Worms, Germany, still en route to Paris. On December 15th, she writes from Paris, relating how she has looked at “popular pictures” in “picture stores” by artists such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Henri Rousseau. The final date of entry in Caroline’s journal is made on the 17th of December; on this day she attends midday mass at the Palais des Invalides in Paris. According to Benjamin’s autobiography, after this journal was finished he and his wife took a suite of rooms in the Rue del l‘Oratoire du Roule:

a pleasant quarter not far from the Champs Elysées, and kept house for the winter. I painted some pictures, and we saw Paris, and as much of art as possible, but about the middle of March we left for Italy via Marseilles, Nice and the Corniche Road to Genoa.”

[with]

22 manuscript letters (77 pp.); 3 pp. miscellany. 19 of the letters are addressed to Caroline, 2 of which are from Benjamin Champney’s brother Henry, who was apparently quite fond of Caroline. 2 of the letters are from Benjamin addressed to his wife Caroline. Also included are 2 pp. of Benjamin Champney’s verses on a woman’s death (possibly his wife’s). In addition, one remarkable 6 pp. letter is addressed to Benjamin Champney from an Earl Shinn residing in Paris, concerning art in Europe and the latter’s travels throughout Europe.

[with]

A salt print portrait of Caroline Champney, circa 1860.

A worthy little Champney family archive, including a record of The Grand Tour as seen through the eyes of Caroline Champney, seeking beauty in the company of her artist husband.

CONDITION: Good.

Item #4193

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