A Beaver Valley, Pennsylvania, Landscape
oil on canvas
inscribed Bott in reversed script on the top stretcher
8 3/4 x 14 inches.

Bott, born in Wurtenberg, Germany, emigrated to America as a child. Several of his best known works executed during the 1850's are renditions of the Upper Beaver Valley, as this painting purportedly depicts, and river settings proved to be an enduring source of inspiration for the artist throughout his career.

While biographical information about Bott remains sparse, he is known to have ridden on packet boats and painted on doors and other parts of the ships. He also taught in New Brighton, and established a studio in Pittsburgh before the Civil War. In the late 1860s, he moved to Lawrenceville and eventually Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania.

Literature:
Chew, Paul A., editor. Southwestern Pennsylvania Painters, 1800-1945. Westmoreland County Museum of Art, Greensburg, PA, 1981.