Harvest Scene

The mellow, glowing light in this image of haying is typical of the style of Jasper Francis Cropsey. Cropsey was particularly interested in capturing his viewers’ attentions through coloristic effects—seen here in the golden tones of the hay in the foreground—which he emphasizes through areas of shadow and brighter sunshine. One of the second generation of American landscape painters who came to critical and popular acclaim in the nineteenth century, Cropsey traveled widely in Europe, absorbing the influence of contemporary landscape painters and their beliefs that artists should work directly from nature. He applied those lessons to his American subjects after his return to the United States at mid-century.