Hudson River Scene

Hermann Fueschel’s view of the Hudson faces west towards a setting sun. In the foreground, a small figure looks towards the horizon, comfortably nestled against the bank of a walking path. Notice the radiant frame of illuminated branches the figure gazes through; it frames the same landscape we see. Recent conservation revealed the original subtle coloration of the fading light.

Born in Brunswick, Germany in 1833, Fuechsel met and eventually worked alongside Hudson River School luminaries such as Albert Bierstadt, Worthington Whitteridge, and Sanford Gifford, his neighbors at the 10th Street Studio Building in Manhattan. In both Germany and the United States, landscape painting reflected increasing cultural links between geographical features, national character and religious sentiment.