Gerald S. Hawkins (1928-2003), Stonehenge - Summer Sunset

Acrylic on canvas, monogrammed and dated 1981 at lower left, inscribed on the top stretcher "Summer Sunset / Southwest to Northeast / 1981," framed.

DOA 24.5 x 30.5 in.

By descent through the artist's family.

Gerald Stanley Hawkins was a British-born American astronomer and author noted for his work in the field of archaeoastronomy. A professor and chair of the astronomy department at Boston University in the United States, in 1965 he published an analysis of Stonehenge, Stonehenge Decoded, in which he was the first to propose its purpose as an ancient astronomical observatory used to predict movements of sun and stars.

This painting is one of 30 views Hawkins painted from memory of weekend visits in the early 1950s and computer-assisted analysis in the mid-1960s.

Very good estate condition.