William Louis Sonntag Highlight

Born in East Liberty, Pennsylvania, William Louis Sonntag was largely self-taught, though he is believed to have studied under G. Frankenstein at the Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts in his early twenties. Sonntag gained
recognition for his evocative landscape paintings, particularly of the American East and Midwest.

By his thirties, he was collaborating with John C. Wolfe on illustrations of Paradise Lost and Paradise
Regained, following a formative year spent in Italy. Upon his return to the United States in 1857, Sonntag settled in New York City and briefly traveled west, where he captured scenes of the Ohio River Valley, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

In the 1860s, he painted The Blue Ridge from Near Luray, which was published in The Ladies' Repository. Throughout his career, Sonntag painted notable American landscapes including Mt. Adams, the Alleghenies, Shenandoah Valley,
Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) and the Adirondacks. In the final years of his life, he continued to explore and depict the White Mountains
with characteristic detail and reverence.

Curator
Will Long, Library Specialist I