The Narrows at Lake George

Autumnal light on water, framing trees, and distant mountains exemplify the Hudson River School. 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. Cropsey’s painting was truly nostalgic, based on sketches made over 40 years earlier. Even then 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.”