Os pintores Childe Hassam [17 Outubro 1859 – 27 Agosto 1935] e Mary Stevenson Cassat [22 Maio 1844 – 14 Junho 1926] tiveram uma influência decisiva na divulgação do Movimento Impressionista junto do meio cultural americano.

Hassam is probably best known for his views of New York City and landscapes of summer resorts in New England. Most of the latter were painted on the Isles of Shoals. Around the middle of the nineteenth century, the Isles of Shoals, ten miles out in the Atlantic off the New Hampshire coast, became a fashionable vacation site. In a period of rapid urbanization, these islands provided an atmosphere of wild nature combined with comfortable lodgings for writers, musicians, artists, and well-off tourists. It was here that Childe Hassam engaged in summer painting campaigns for some thirty years.

Summer Sunlight belongs to this group of “Shoals” works. Painted in 1892, it is an excellent example of the period during which Hassam executed his most lyrical, atmospheric works. The setting is probably Appledorf Island, where a friend, the writer Celia Thaxter, had a home. Like many of the “Shoals” paintings, it is infused with a sense of bright light and fresh air. Via The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Summer Sunlight (Isles of Shoals), 1892