Elizabeth Hart Inness

After George Inness's death in 1894, most of his paintings were left to his wife, Elizabeth Hart Inness, who he married in 1850. Elizabeth was his second wife after his first wife died in childbirth earlier that year. Together they had six children, one of which was George Inness, Jr., who would become a famous painter in his own right. After the couple was married, they embarked on a fifteenth month stay in Rome, so that George Inness could study landscapes. Information is lacking on Elizabeth Hart Inness herself, but it can be assumed that she accompanied George Inness on all of his major trips throughout the United States and Europe. Elizabeth Hart Inness acquired the paintings of her late husband in 1894, although she was forbidden from selling them by her husband before his death. After her death in 1903, the paintings were auctioned off at Fifth Avenue Art Galleries in New York between February 11th and 13th, 1904. 

Text Sources: 

New York Times, "Inness Pictures at Auction," February 13, 1904.

New York Times, "Inness Estate Pictures," February 12, 1904.

Executor's Sale: Catalogue of Inness Paintings by the Late George Inness. New York: Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, 1904.