United States

This painting shows how a reverence for nature helped cultivate rural, recreational tourism. The popularity of fishing was greatly enhanced by the publication of the first American edition (1847) of Isaak Walton’s legendary fishing guide The Compleat Angler: The Contemplative Man’s Recreation (1653). While some Americans fished for sustenance and others “angled” for pleasure, most believed that fishing enhanced the participant’s physical and mental health.

This painting shows how a reverence for nature helped cultivate rural, recreational tourism. The popularity of fishing was greatly enhanced by the publication of the first American edition (1847) of Isaak Walton’s legendary fishing guide The Compleat Angler: The Contemplative Man’s Recreation (1653). While some Americans fished for sustenance and others “angled” for pleasure, most believed that fishing enhanced the participant’s physical and mental health.

The horizontal expanse of this scene exaggerates the openness of the uncharted Arctic. A single ship among icebergs became Bradford’s best-known subject, and he painted from personal experience and photographs of Arctic expeditions. He participated in several explorations—opportunities he used to study nature, glaciers, and icebergs for later inclusion in his paintings.

The horizontal expanse of this scene exaggerates the openness of the uncharted Arctic. A single ship among icebergs became Bradford’s best-known subject, and he painted from personal experience and photographs of Arctic expeditions. He participated in several explorations—opportunities he used to study nature, glaciers, and icebergs for later inclusion in his paintings.

Hill settled in San Francisco in 1861; he made his first trip to Yosemite Valley in 1865 with painter Virgil Williams and photographer Carleton Watkins. Throughout his career he explored California’s natural scenery, making oil sketches that he later developed into finished paintings. Those works played an important role in shaping public perceptions of California in an era when the state remained otherwise inaccessible to most Americans.

Hill settled in San Francisco in 1861; he made his first trip to Yosemite Valley in 1865 with painter Virgil Williams and photographer Carleton Watkins. Throughout his career he explored California’s natural scenery, making oil sketches that he later developed into finished paintings. Those works played an important role in shaping public perceptions of California in an era when the state remained otherwise inaccessible to most Americans.

Bierstadt’s bucolic landscape offers an idealized image of the West as a new American Eden. Cows graze in a broad expanse of fertile fields, open and waiting to be settled. This lush view of the Sacramento River Valley would have convinced viewers—and potential settlers—to come to California. This scene was painted from studies made during Bierstadt’s third western sojourn, when the artist and his wife, Rosalie, traveled to San Francisco on the recently completed transcontinental railroad.

Bierstadt’s bucolic landscape offers an idealized image of the West as a new American Eden. Cows graze in a broad expanse of fertile fields, open and waiting to be settled. This lush view of the Sacramento River Valley would have convinced viewers—and potential settlers—to come to California. This scene was painted from studies made during Bierstadt’s third western sojourn, when the artist and his wife, Rosalie, traveled to San Francisco on the recently completed transcontinental railroad.

This painting is one of Mignot’s few North American scenes. “The artist has dipped his brush in the ‘colors of America,’” one contemporary critic observed. Another, responding to Mignot’s 1876 memorial exhibition, wrote: “His skies are very remarkable. Sunsets would seem to have been his delight; and no wonder, for his facility for representing upon canvas the delicate and beautiful tints produced by the rays of declining light illuminating the fringy edges of clouds, is perfectly marvelous.”

This painting is one of Mignot’s few North American scenes. “The artist has dipped his brush in the ‘colors of America,’” one contemporary critic observed. Another, responding to Mignot’s 1876 memorial exhibition, wrote: “His skies are very remarkable. Sunsets would seem to have been his delight; and no wonder, for his facility for representing upon canvas the delicate and beautiful tints produced by the rays of declining light illuminating the fringy edges of clouds, is perfectly marvelous.”