Régis François Gignoux (1814–1882) was a French painter who was active in the United States from 1840 to 1870. (Aliases: Marie-François-Régis Gignoux; Régis Francois Gignoux; Régis François Gignoux; Régis-François Gignoux)[1]
"A dramatic, newly restored 1843 painting of the interior of Mammoth Cave by Marie-Francois-Regis Gignoux has been restored as part of the conservation program for the Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture at the New-York Historical Society opening in November [2000]. ...In his dramatically lit interior view of Mammoth Cave, Gignoux looks from deep in the cave across the so-called "Rotunda" toward the entrance, which is illuminated by an almost mystical light from the outside. From the War of 1812 onward nitre (lime nitrate) used in making saltpeter, one of the essential elements for gunpowder, was mined and prepared from bat guano in the Rotunda. ..."[4] Currently, Mammoth Cave is touring as part of The Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision organized by the New-York Historical Society.[5]
References
Adamson, Jeremy Elwell, Niagara, Two Centuries of Changing Attitudes, 1697–1901, Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1985, 57.
Grinnell, Nancy W., "The Light Beyond", American Art Review, November, 1996.
Gallery
Niagara, The Table Rock in Winter, oil on canvas, ca. 1847, United States Senate