Skip to main content

Hudson River School Paintings

HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL STYLE

Considered the first major American painting movement, the Hudson River School emerged in the first half of the 19th century with landscape paintings that celebrated the young country’s natural beauty. Most of its leading painters were based in New York City where they exchanged ideas and traveled to the nearby Hudson River Valley and Catskills Mountains to re-create their vistas. At a time when the city was increasingly dense, the Hudson River School artists extolled the vast and pristine qualities of the American landscape, a sentiment that would inform the conservation movement.

American art was dominated by portraiture and historical scenes before Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School, began painting the Catskill Mountains in 1825. While the Hudson River School was informed by European art aesthetics, particularly the British focus on the sublime in nature, it was a style imbued with nationalism. The landscape painters who followed and studied under Cole would expand their focus from the Northeastern United States to places across the country, their work shared through prints and portfolios promoting an appreciation for the American wilderness — Niagara Falls, the mountain ranges that dot the American West and more — as the style blossomed during the mid-19th century.

Cole’s student Frederic Edwin Church as well as painters such as Albert Bierstadt, John Frederick Kensett, Asher Brown Durand and others became prominent proponents of the Hudson River School. The American art movement also had close ties to the literary world, including to authors like William Cullen Bryant, Henry David Thoreau and James Fenimore Cooper who wrote on similar themes. Although by the early 1900s the style had waned, and modernism would soon guide the following decades of art in the United States, the Hudson River School received renewed interest in the late 20th century for the dramatic way its artists portrayed the world.

Find a collection of authentic Hudson River School paintings, drawings and watercolors and more art on 1stDibs.

to
237
2
1
1
1
1
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
1,975
1,276
539
445
324
317
236
190
105
96
48
32
14
8
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
Item Ships From: Florida
Style: Hudson River School
High Bridge and Croton Waterworks (Harlem River)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Stunning Hudson River School landscape by George Lafayette Clough (1824-1901). High Bridge and Croton Waterworks, Harlem River, ca. 1870. Oil on canvas measures 14 x 21 inches; 26 x 33 inches in original frame. Signed lower left. Old repair of small diagonal puncture measuring 1/2 inch in length to the right of ship sail. Otherwise no damage or conservation to painting. Original frame has several areas of damage and loss and will require conservation. George Lafayette Clough was born September 18, 1824, in Auburn, New York, and was that city's leading landscapist and, known as a Hudson River School painter, became Auburn's most noted resident painter of the mid-century. His mother was widowed shortly after his birth, and he was raised without paternal influence. He had little formal education and was employed by the age of ten. By age fifteen he had taken up painting, and his first and informal art influence came from the portraitist, Randall Palmer. In 1844 Clough opened his own studio in Auburn. About that time Charles Loring Elliott...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Oil

“Worcester, Massachusetts”
Located in Southampton, NY
Oil on wood panel painting of a Worcester, Massachusetts view by local resident artist Mabel Blake. Signed M. Blake lower left. Circa 1880. Condition is good. The bucolic scene depicts a man in a boat...
Category

1880s Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Related Items
Sketching Among the Irises by George Herbert McCord (American: 1848-1909)
Located in New York, NY
"Sketching Among the Irises" by George Herbert McCord (1848-1909) is oil on canvas and measures 20 x 16 inches. The painting is signed by the artist at the lower left.
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Seascape by George Herbert McCord (American, 1848-1909)
Located in New York, NY
"Seascape," by Hudson River School artist George Herbert McCord (1848-1909) is oil on canvas and measures 18.07 x 30.13 inches. The work which comes from a private collection in Birmingham, Alabama is signed “G.H. McCord A.N.A.” at the lower left. The work is framed in a beautiful, period appropriate frame, and ready to hang. A member of the second generation of Hudson River School painters, George Herbert McCord is known for his atmospheric landscape and marine paintings which capture a variety of locales and are executed in a variety of media—including oil, pastel, and watercolor. McCord was born in 1848 in New York City, where he lived and worked his entire life. After 1883, he kept an additional studio in Morristown, NJ. McCord traveled throughout North America, painting in the Berkshire, Adirondack and Laurentian mountain ranges, the Hudson River Valley, the Coast of New England, the Upper Mississippi, and Florida, which had become popular among Eastern vacationers. He was among a select group of artists commissioned by the Santa Fe Railroad to paint the Grand Canyon, and also participated in a special painting excursion to the Erie Canal. His travels in Europe were equally expansive, taking him to England, Scotland (having been commissioned by Andrew Carnegie to paint the scenery around his castle there), France, the Netherlands, and Italy. McCord was well-educated, having attended Claverack College amidst the Catskills in Claverack, NY, which provided instruction in classical, French, German, English, music, painting, military, commercial, telegraphic and agricultural studies. He also studied with the accomplished painter and inventor of Morse code, Samuel F.B. Morse, and with the Scottishborn landscape painter, James Fairman. McCord was active in numerous art clubs and institutions in New York, including the National Academy of Design, which elected him an Associate member in 1880, the American Watercolor Society, the Brooklyn Art...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

A. J. Bennett - Light and Shade - Post Impressionist Painting, South Africa 1919
Located in Meinisberg, CH
A. J. Bennett (South African, fl. Early 20th century) Light and Shade • Oil on canvas artist board ca. 42.5 x 29.5 cm • Later frame ca. 53.5 x 41 cm Worldwide shipping is complime...
Category

1910s Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

Antique Signed American Impressionist Framed Panoramic Blazing Sunset Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
An antique American oil painting in its original period frame. This tonalist work features a stunning luminescent quality of the sun reflecting off a lake surrounded by trees. Thi...
Category

1890s Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sunset on the Hudson River by Hermann Simon (American, 1846-1895)
Located in New York, NY
Painted by Hudson River School artist Hermann Simon (1846-1895) , "Sunset on the Hudson River" is oil on canvas, measures 15 x 25 inches, and is signed and dated 1875 at the lower ri...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Ralph R. Stubbs - Low tide at Sunset - English 19th Century Marine Oil Painting
By Ralph Reuben / Ruben Stubbs
Located in Meinisberg, CH
Ralph Reuben/Ruben Stubbs (English, 1824-1879) Low Tide at Sunset • 19thC Oil on artist board (card) ca. 21 x 36.5 cm • Signed bottom right and verso Biografie: Stubbs Ralph Reu...
Category

1860s Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

Freya (Seated Backwards), Mixed media on grey board
Located in London, GB
Howard Tangye (b.1948, Australia) has been an influential force in fashion for decades. Lecturing at London’s Central Saint Martins for 35 years, including 16 years as head of BA Wom...
Category

2010s Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Other Medium, Archival Paper, Handmade Paper, Pen, Felt Pen, Permanent M...

Highlands - Hudson River from West Point by Thomas B. Pope (American, 1834-1891)
Located in New York, NY
Painted by Hudson River School artist Thomas Benjamin Pope (1834–1891), "Highlands - Hudson River from West Point Looking North" is oil on canvas ...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Board, Oil

Shawangunk Mountains by Lemuel Maynard Wiles (American, 1826-1905)
Located in New York, NY
Shawangunk Mountains [View from top of Granit Road Looking Southeast] by Hudson River School artist Lemuel Maynard Wiles (1826-1905) is oil on can...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Board, Oil, Canvas

Full Sail at Twilight by Hudson River School Artist J.B. Bristol (1826–1909)
By John Bunyan Bristol
Located in New York, NY
Painted by Hudson River School artist J.B. Bristol (1826–1909), "Full Sail at Twilight" is oil on canvas, measures 12 x 18 1/8 inches, and is signed at the lower right. The work is f...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Camel's Hump, Vermont, 1877 by Laura Woodward (American, 1834-1926)
By Laura Woodward
Located in New York, NY
Painted by Hudson River School artist Laura Woodward (1834-1926), "Camel's Hump, Vermont" 1877 is oil on canvas and measures 14 x 24 inches. It is signe...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Mink Hollow Brook by Hudson River Artist Jervis McEntee (American, 1828-1891)
Located in New York, NY
"Mink Hollow Brook," by Hudson River School artist Jervis McEntee (1828-1891) depicts the lush foliage, and rocky terrain surrounding a Catskill brook. This 19th century oil paintin...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Previously Available Items
Hudson River School era fruit still life landscape paintings
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Stunning pair of antique Hudson River School era still life paintings. Each depicts an arrangement of fresh berries in a natural, atmospheric landscape, making them outstanding examp...
Category

1860s Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Oil

Hudson River School era fruit still life landscape paintings
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Stunning pair of antique Hudson River School era still life paintings. Each depicts an arrangement of fresh berries in a natural, atmospheric landscape, making them outstanding examp...
Category

1860s Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Oil

“Sunset over Lake Thrasemine”
Located in Southampton, NY
Jasper Francis Cropsey, oil on canvas, 1881, Jasper Francis Cropsey (American, 1823-1900), Study for "Sunset Over Lake Thrasemine", signed and dated lower right "J.F. Cropsey 1881",...
Category

1880s Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

“Forest Light”
By Roswell Morse Shurtleff
Located in Southampton, NY
Oil on canvas painting by the American National Academy artist, Roswell Shurtleff. Signed lower right. Unlined canvas. Old but not original frame. Tiny old puncture repair bottom right. Overall 25 by 29.5 inches. Good condition. Most noted for his paintings of forest interiors, Roswell Shurtleff settled in Hartford, Connecticut but spent his summers painting his signature works in the Adirondacks at Keene Valley, New York. He and John Lee Fitch successfully encouraged other artists to join them including Winslow Homer, J Alden Weir, James Smillie...
Category

1890s Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

New England Landscape Sunset
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
An original signed oil on canvas mounted to board by American artist Benjamin Franklin De Haven (1856-1934) titled "New England Landscape Sunset"...
Category

Mid-19th Century Hudson River School Paintings

Materials

Board, Cotton Canvas, Oil

Hudson River School paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Hudson River School paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Ralph Albert Blakelock, Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, Jasper Francis Cropsey, and John Frederick Kensett. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Hudson River School paintings, so small editions measuring 4 inches across are also available. Prices for paintings made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $400 and tops out at $875,000, while the average work sells for $14,933.

Recently Viewed

View All