"Painted around 1920. A large upright 40 x 50 of very dark deep blue moonlit winter woods with a loaded sled with a lantern light spot on it, passing through the sled tracks of the foreground. Painted in Redgate just before it burned, following my Hallgarten Prize 40 x 50 and the 40 x 50 Evening Silence (exhibited at Carnegie International) with the tall decorative night woods outside 'Redgate' windows as the theme. Exhibited at N. A. D. annual exhibition about 1920 the spring they held their show at the Brooklyn Museum. It received the highest acclaim in the press reviews, it even being stated that it was done by a young generation doing superior work to Gardner Symons, the most noted winter night painter of the day. Very picturesque and dramatic canvas, exhibited a lot about the country but never sold as was my upright 40 x 50, the Hallgarten Prize canvas, and the upright 40 x 50 Evening Silence which went to Carnegie Exhibition, all 3 of about the same period."
We understand that some paintings do not sell. RSW states as much with this piece. However, we have learned over the years that Woodward may have had something to do with a number of "favorite" paintings not selling. Of the 10 times Woodward cites a painting as a favorite of his, 8 of them "never sold." To us this is beyond coincidence. Though he does not say as much in the comments regarding this painting, it also did not sit in his storage closet either. It hung in his homes for the duration of his life and so we suspect that this painting had a special hold on him.