The Narrows at Lake George

In the nineteenth century, rapid industrialization and urban growth led many Americans to see untouched landscapes as symbols of national pride. Artists later known as the Hudson River School flocked to the Catskills, Adirondacks, and Lake George—accessible by train or steamboat from New York City. Their paintings often featured autumn foliage, shimmering water, framing trees, and distant mountains, as seen here.

Cropsey based this work on sketches made at Lake George more than forty years earlier. Reflecting on the changes he witnessed, he 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.”