Charles B. Hellem (American, circa 1820-1901), Delaware River, Above the Gap

Oil on board, monogrammed at lower left "CBH" and inscribed to verso "Delaware River, / above the Gap, / by C. B. Hellem," presented in a period gilt composition frame.

Board 5 x 11 1/2 in.; Frame dimensions 10 x 16 1/2 in.

Charles B. Hellem was born in Pennsylvania around 1820 and was active as a portrait and landscape painter during the second half of the nineteenth century. He appears in Newark, New Jersey, city directories and census records throughout his career, consistently identified as an artist or painter. The latest known reference to Hellem is an entry in the 1901 Paterson, New Jersey, City Directory.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture documents Hellem’s landscape On the Upper Lehigh, PA, formerly recorded in the collection of Betty Gallagher of Martinsville, New Jersey.

Toning to verso of board; minor chipping to frame; no evidence of restoration visible under UV light.