Object Details
Artist
Jasper Francis Cropsey, born Rossville, NY 1823-died Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 1900
Luce Center Label
Jasper Francis Cropsey greatly admired the works of Thomas Cole, who was the first American painter to establish the country’s wilderness as an important subject for painting. In 1850, Cropsey stayed with Cole’s widow in the village of Catskill, where he visited the late artist’s studio and made several sketches of the landscape. (Myers, The Catskills, 1987) In this painting the windswept trees and dark tones of brown and orange evoke the aftermath of a passing storm.
Luce Object Quote
“It . . . is a very wild and picturesque gorge; down it rushes the cauterskill creek, which when swollen by heavy rains is a furious stream, could you but see the great rocks that have twirled over and over, and the immense trunks of trees . . .” Letter from the artist to his wife, September 24, 1850, quoted in Myers, The Catskills, 1987
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase
Date
1850
Object number
1966.50
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
18 1/2 x 27 1/4 in. (47.1 x 69.1 cm.)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Painting and Sculpture
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Landscape\river
Landscape\New York
Landscape\weather\cloud
Landscape\season\autumn
Landscape\mountain\Catskill Mountains
Link to Original Record
Record ID
saam_1966.50