Henrik Hudson entering New York Harbor, September 11, 1609

The oil painting shows a ship in the distance on a still sea under a cloudy sky, sailing toward an Indian looking up over a rock on the shore in the foreground. The location of the painting is at the south end of Staten Island looking across Raritan Bay towards Sandy Hook, which Hudson's log book noted as the area of his first exploration. Description from Theodore Sutro, 1905: "The interest of this painting centers in the scene, which it vividly depicts, of the effect upon the natives of this first sight of a ship. Nothing could be more intense than the expression of mignled fear and defiant surprise portrayed in the face and attitude of the young Indian warrior, that so strange an object should dare to approach his hitherto undisputed domain of the shore." (This refers to a slightly different copy of the painting from 1898.)