The Narrows at Lake George

Autumnal light on water, framing trees, and distant mountains exemplify the Hudson River School. From the mid-nineteenth century onward, rampant industrialization made many Americans see the wilderness as a source of national pride. Artists swarmed the Catskills, Adirondacks, and Lake George—all just a train or steamboat from New York City. In a September 12, 1845, journal entry, Jasper Francis Cropsey lamented, “All of the best trees . . . have been turned into timber . . . all the forest about are second growth, now and then an old tree remaining” (Newington-Cropsey Foundation). In 1888, his painting was truly nostalgic, based on sketches made more than forty years earlier.