Sources of the Susquehanna

The title of Mignot's painting derives directly from James Fennimore Cooper's 1823 novel The Pioneers or The Sources of the Susquehanna: A Descriptive Tale. The Susquehanna is the longest river in the Eastern United States. It runs a twisted course in New York and Pennsylvania before emptying into the Chesapeake. The artist focuses attention on its secluded and anonymous origins in New York State which are described in the opening lines of Cooper's novel: "Near the centre of the State of New-York lies an extensive district of country, whose surface is a succession of hills and dales, or, to speak with a greater deference to geographical definitions, of mountains and valleys. It is among these hills that the Delaware takes its rise; and the numerous sources of the Susquehanna meander through the valleys, until, uniting their streams, they form one of the proudest rivers in the United States."