Paul Sawyier (American, 1865-1917) oil on board impressionist landscape titled “Vale of Cashmere, Prospect Park, Brooklyn”. Depicts a path alongside the park’s reflecting pool, surrounded by flowering bushes and trees, and set under a partly cloudy sky. Signed lower left. Fragment of original title label secured to back of giltwood frame. Sight – 13 1/2″H x 16 1/2″W. Framed – 20 1/4″H x 23 1/4″W. History: The Vale of Cashmere was originally part of a formal garden in Prospect Park (designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in the mid-19th century). The secluded area eventually fell into near abandonment, but is currently the subject of a restoration effort. Biography: Paul Sawyier is regarded as one of Kentucky’s most important painters, and one of the few to work successfully in the Impressionist style. Sawyier was born in Ohio but moved to the Bluegrass State as a child. He studied portraiture at the Cincinnati Art Academy, and went on to New York to study at the Art Student’s League under William Merritt Chase. He also studied with painter Frank Duveneck in Covington, Kentucky and abroad, before returning to Frankfort, Kentucky. There he painted landscapes and portraits. From 1908 to 1913 he lived on a houseboat, moving up and down the Kentucky River and painting landscapes. In 1913, he made the decision to leave Kentucky and moved to Brooklyn; in 1915, he moved to the Catskill Mountains, although he continued to paint Kentucky scenes from photographs and send them back home. He died in New York of a heart attack at age 52. (source: Askart: The Artists’ Bluebook). Provenance – Lexington, Kentucky area collection. Condition: Overall excellent condition, small black scuffs along top left to middle of painting near frame. CONDITION: Overall excellent condition, small black scuffs along top left to middle of painting near frame.