This oil by Carl Ahrens was painted sometime before March of 1900. It was first exhibited at the 28th Annual Exhibition of the Ontario Society of Artists at the Art Gallery of Toronto. The painting is also listed as having been displayed in the Art Gallery at Roycroft in East Aurora, NY later in that same year. It may have hung on the Roycroft campus for as long as five years, when Carl left for New York City. General Malcolm S. Mercer purchased it at Carl's first one-artist show in Canada, held at the galleries of J.G. Musson in Toronto in 1908. This painting was one of the first paintings that eventually made up the Mercer Collection, exhibited in the Public Reference Library (Toronto) in October of 1911.
I have found no record of this painting ever having been sold or exhibited after 1911. It may still remain in the hands of descendants of the Mercer family.
Carl's wife, Madonna Ahrens, described the painting as "misty grays touched with the faintest golden light."
Early Morning
