Description:

William Henry Buck
Norwegian/Louisiana, 1840-1888
"Estate on the Mississippi Gulf Coast with Two Setters and Figure Walking Along Scenic Drive"
oil on canvas
1880, signed and dated "Wm. H. Buck 80" lower right, period giltwood and gesso frame.

Note: Of William Henry Buck's body of works, this scene is among the most distinctive and unique both in subject matter and in style. Despite opening a studio in New Orleans by 1880, he also painted rare, documented views of the Mississippi Gulf Coast the same year. "Beauvoir" is in the collection of Confederate Memorial Hall in New Orleans; "View of Fort Massachusetts at Biloxi" is conserved by the New Orleans Museum of Art; and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art owns "On the Gulf, Near Bay St. Louis." The famed Louisiana architect A. Hays Town owned a view of Bay St. Louis that was sold at auction in May of 2005 from his estate collection. While Buck is most known for his depictions of moss-laden live oak trees, the property depicted in this painting faces the Gulf of Mexico with trees that are almost constantly besieged by onshore winds, thus their limbs do not support the growth of Spanish moss like trees along Louisiana bayous or further inland in Mississippi. The canvas is a carefully crafted composition with an intricately rendered pink main house and several complementary small structures on the fenced property. In the foreground, a boy carries a basket while two setters frame the sun-dappled roadway, an uncommon but endearing feature in this Buck painting.

Particularly notable for its architectural detail, this canvas is reminiscent of the work of Buck's predecessor to Louisiana, French artist Marie Adrien Persac. In crafting his famous vignettes of plantations along the Mississippi River during the 1850s and 1860s, Persac often relegated his principal buildings to the middle ground, allowing space in the foreground for figures and objects to charm and attract the eye of the viewer. He utilized parallel lines and diagonals to align the perspective and frame focal points within the composition. Whether Buck later saw Persac's work and consciously chose to employ the same visual language in this masterful work is unclear, although the effect remains the same. While Persac worked in watercolor and occasionally collage, Buck completed this stunning scene in oil with all the same attention to detail that Persac famously employed – a feat that must have been greatly admired by the proud owner of this picturesque home. Most interestingly, Neal Alford Company sold another view of this same property on May 13, 1989 (lot 291) which depicts the main house and outbuildings from an angled perspective and includes a view down the road with the bank sloping towards the water and piers visible in the background. A man (likely said owner) sits in a horse drawn carriage in that portrayal of this historic Gulf Coast property, completed the same year of 1880.

This exceptional work by William Henry Buck represents a rare opportunity to acquire the best of his oeuvre in both scale and composition. His unprecedented rendering of fine details, usage of crisp and clear light, and the added motifs of the figure and dogs (perhaps a visual homage to the pasted cutouts in Persac's compositions) breathe life and sparkle into the peaceful Southern scene. This striking painting showcases Buck's versatility and talent in capturing the charismatic essence of the ever-changing Gulf Coast.

Ref.: Black, Patti Carr. Art in Mississippi 1720-1980. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1998; Wierich, Jochen. Picturing Mississippi, 1817-2017: Land of Plenty, Pain and Promise. Jackson: Mississippi Museum of Art, 2017.

  • Dimensions: 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm.), Frame: 34 x 46 x 4 in. (86.4 x 116.8 x 10.2 cm.)
  • Medium: oil on canvas
  • Condition: Recently professionally cleaned and relined; large areas of inpainting upper right and left corners; small areas and dots of inpainting throughout sky, particularly above trees upper right; dots and pinpoints of inpainting along tops of trees and scattered throughout foliage; few scattered dots of inpainting in foreground; scattered areas of craquelure pattern visible, particularly in sky; stretcher bar marks faintly visible; frame has surface dirt, multiple small losses and cracks along edges and corners, minor surface repairs and light separation in corners.

Shipping Options

Invaluable Shipping

  • Expert Care packing and Shipping
  • Shipment Protection
  • Real-time tracking

Arrange your own

  • You will coordinate with us to arrange your own shipping

Local pickup

  • You will coordinate with us and arrange pick up time after payment.

Accepted Forms of Payment:

American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Personal Check, Visa, Wire Transfer

November 21, 2025 11:00 AM CST
New Orleans, LA, US

Neal Auction Company

You agree to pay a buyer's premium of 25% and any applicable taxes and shipping.

View full terms and conditions

Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $29,999 $1,000
$30,000 $49,999 $5,000
$50,000 $99,999 $10,000
$100,000 + $20,000