A Man and a Woman on Horseback

Philips Wouwerman | ca. 1653–54

In this early work by the Haarlem painter Wouwerman, work, rest, and riding for pleasure coexist for a moment on the bank of a canal. While famous for his horses, the artist was remarkably original as a landscapist and a close observer of human interaction.

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Bridge over a Cascade

Hubert Robert | year unknown

This overdoor is one of a pair; its pendant, of almost exactly the same dimensions, is Aqueduct in Ruins. The two were perhaps acquired by David Étienne Rouillé de l’Étang for the great house that he remodeled at 6, place Louis XV, later place de la Concorde, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century.

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Concert Champêtre

Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater | ca. 1734

This delicate pastel landscape with elegant figures illustrates what Pater avowed: that he owed everything to Watteau. The ladies’ dresses are more or less contemporary while the short jacket, ruff, and shoe ribbons of the man with the walking stick are reminiscent of costumes for the theater. The marble putti with a dolphin must form part of a fountain hidden in shrubbery. They underline the playful nature of the subject. The painting is one of a pair. The pendant, signed and dated 1734, is in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.

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Heart of the Andes

Frederic Church | 1859

Frederic Church was the star pupil of Thomas Cole and the most important artist of the second generation of the Hudson River School. He did not limit himself to views of New York and New England; in the 1850s, inspired by the great explorer Alexander von Humboldt, he traveled to South America and created sketches that formed the basis for a grand panoramic painting of the Andes.

Church painted nature with an uncanny level of detail and a lasting sense of awe. His landscapes embodied the American belief that expanding the frontier and territorial growth were part of the nation’s destiny. When this monumental painting was first exhibited in 1859—in a darkened room with hidden lighting—it caused a sensation. In many ways, the painting represented the Hudson River School’s ideas at their most dramatic peak.

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High Point: Shandaken Mountains

Asher Brown Durand | 1853

This work, first shown at the National Academy of Design’s annual exhibition in New York City in 1853, depicts a scene near the town of Olive, New York, where Durand spent the summers of 1853 and 1855. During those months, he repeated sketches he had made of a nearby mountain, High Point (also known as Ashokan High Point), on an earlier visit to the region in 1847. In this painting, in contrast to his large “historical landscapes,” the artist focused on depicting light and shade in the type of bucolic setting popular with an increasingly urban American public—represented here by the couple fishing on the bank of the stream, enjoying the bounty of nature.

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Lake George

John William Casilear| ca. 1857

In this painting of one of Casilear’s favorite sites—Lake George, in the Adirondack Mountains—the influence of John Frederick Kensett, one of the artist’s sketching companions, is unmistakable in the treatment of the water and the light. Casilear’s background as an engraver is reflected in the highly finished quality of the canvas and the attention to detail in the foliage and rock formations of the foreground. A sense of calm pervades the scene; there is not a single ripple on the lake. The vantage point is from the western shore, looking south toward Black Mountain.

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Merced River, Yosemite Valley

Albert Bierstadt | ca. 1866

On May 12, 1863, Albert Bierstadt embarked on his second journey to the American West, accompanied by journalist and explorer Fitz Hugh Ludlow. In August, they camped in California’s Yosemite Valley, likely influenced by Carleton E. Watkins’ stereoscopic photographs from 1861, which captured the valley’s breathtaking landscapes under different atmospheric conditions.

During this expedition, Bierstadt created numerous studies that later served as the basis for several large-scale paintings completed in his New York studio. In this particular canvas, towering, rugged peaks dominate the scene, making the foreground figures appear small in comparison. These figures likely represent members of Yosemite’s Indigenous population, who had lived in the valley for thousands of years before Bierstadt’s arrival.

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Santa Maria della Salute, Sunset

William Stanley Haseltine| ca. 1870

The painting portrays the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, illuminated by the warm glow of a sunset. Haseltine masterfully captures the church’s elegant domes and intricate details, highlighting its grandeur against a striking sky and the still waters of the Grand Canal. His precise brushwork and ability to render atmospheric effects reflect his connection to the American Luminism movement, which emphasized light, clarity, and tranquility in landscape painting.

Haseltine, widely recognized for his detailed depictions of landscapes and seascapes, frequently found inspiration in his travels across Europe, particularly in Italy. His work is distinguished by its meticulous attention to architectural forms and an acute sensitivity to light and atmosphere. In Santa Maria della Salute, Sunset, he conveys the serene beauty of Venice, capturing the balance between the city’s historic architecture and its natural surroundings. The Basilica itself, built in the 17th century as a votive offering following the plague, remains one of Venice’s most iconic landmarks, symbolizing both resilience and artistic splendor.

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Scene at Napanoch

William Hart  | 1883

“Scene at Napanoch” (1883) by William Hart is a serene oil on canvas painting that captures the tranquil beauty of Napanoch, a hamlet in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The artwork depicts a gently flowing river surrounded by lush greenery and towering trees, with Hart’s mastery of atmospheric effects evident in the soft, natural lighting that enhances the peaceful, pastoral setting.

As a leading artist of the Hudson River School, Hart was known for romanticized landscapes that emphasized the harmony between humans and nature. His meticulous attention to detail, particularly in foliage and water reflections, creates a rich sense of depth and tranquility. Scene at Napanoch exemplifies his mature style, blending land, water, and sky to evoke the unspoiled beauty of the American wilderness.

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Summer Flowers

Jerome B. Thompson | 1859

To offset the trials of city living, wealthy nineteenth-century New Yorkers often escaped to rural estates, where–according to the architectural theorist Andrew Jackson Downing–the “humble roof, . . . shady porch, . . . verdant lawn, and smiling flowers offered a “barrier against vice, immorality, and bad habits.” Thompson’s cheerful view of a Gothic Revival-style Hudson River Valley home, seen at a distance behind an elegant family seated in a blossoming field, embodies Downing’s bucolic ideal.

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Tennessee

Alexander Helwig Wyant | 1866

Wyant, an Ohio native, painted Tennessee after returning from his 1865 trip to Europe, where he studied under Norwegian artist Hans Fredrik Gude. This painting marks his shift from the precise, detailed style of the Hudson River School to the looser, more atmospheric approach influenced by the Barbizon landscape painters, which defined his later work.

The subject is notable because it was created during the Civil War, a time when most Northern landscape artists avoided depicting the Southern states. Although there is no evidence that Wyant ever visited Tennessee, he did spend time in neighboring Kentucky during his career.

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The Mountain Ford

Thomas Cole | 1846

Painted two years before Cole’s early death, this picture appears to be the record of an entirely imagined vision, with an implied symbolic meaning. The mountain in the center, with light at its summit and shadow at its base, dwarfs and dominates the forest around it. Civilization has laid no mark on pure nature. Just at the edge of a murky body of water, however, a horseman appears on a hesitating white mount, pausing momentarily before plunging in to ford the dark and frightening depths. This confrontation of man and wilderness draws on a long allegorical tradition of the lonely rider journeying through an awesome world.

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