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Hudson River School Art

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.

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Style: Hudson River School
Period: 19th Century
Indian Encampment
Located in New York, NY
Signed lower left in arrowhead: R. A. Blakelock
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

Pompton, New Jersey
Located in New York, NY
Monogrammed and dated lower right: DJ. 79.; on verso: –Study– / Pompton. / N-J. / David Johnson. 1879.
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

Shoreline with Basket and Boats
Located in New York, NY
Signed and dated lower left: William F. de Haas. ‘76
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

Sunrise on Lake George New York
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower right Known as a painter of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Samuel Griggs was listed as an architect in the Boston City directory from ...
Category

Late 19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

Grapes and Peach
By George Cope
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower right & dated 1888.
Category

1880s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Lifting Fog, Grand Manan
Located in New York, NY
Monogrammed lower left: ATBricher
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

View by a Lake
Located in New York, NY
Signed lower right: Ernest Parton
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

Niagara Falls
Located in New York, NY
Signed lower left: R. Gignoux
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

Turn of Century Yellowstone Falls Landscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Substantial and period painting of Yellowstone Falls by an unknown artist (American, 19th-20th Century), c.1880-1898. Unsigned. With a plaque "Yellow...
Category

1890s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Morrisinia, New York in the Bronx
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower left, titled and dated Born in Staindrop, County Durham, England, he was a portrait and landscape painter, especially appreciated for watercolor painting, which he sold...
Category

1850s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

"Greek Ruins"
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Signed Lower Right Known for his marine, history, and portrait paintings, Franklin Briscoe was born in Baltimore, Maryland and at age four moved with his family to Philadelphia where he later became a student of Edward Moran and where eventually he settled his studio. Briscoe made extended ocean voyages, including trips to Europe where he saw much painting in galleries, and from these adventures and observations developed his landmark paintings of the ocean and ships in all kinds of weather conditions. In 1885, he painted an historical mural that was in ten panels, a total of 230 feet long, and 13 feet tall--"The Battle of Gettysburg...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Smith Farm
Located in New York, NY
Monogrammed lower right; Inscribed on verso: To Miss Francis Smith with Compliments of the Artist. David Johnson. Oct 1893
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

Mount Etna from Catania
Located in New York, NY
Prominent Luminist Hudson River School painter.
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

A Summer Gathering
By Ambrose Andrews
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower right. An itinerant portrait, miniature, and landscape painter, Ambrose Andrews had a wide-ranging career geographically that saw him in many regions including New York (1829-31), Connecticut (1837), Texas (1837-1841) and Louisiana (1841-42). After 1844, he was active in St. Louis, New York City, Buffalo, New York, Vermont and Canada. He was born in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and in 1824, attended the National Academy of Design. Andrews exhibited paintings at the Republic of Texas Capitol...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Hawley, Pennsylvania
Located in New York, NY
Signed lower right: RABlakelock
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Mount Chocorua
Located in New York, NY
Leading Hudson River School Painter Famous for New England Views.
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

Homeward Bound
Located in New York, NY
Signed lower right: W Whittredge
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

Marina Grande, Capri, with Figures
Located in New York, NY
Prominent Luminist Hudson River School painter.
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

Lake in the Mountains
By Daniel Folger Bigelow
Located in New York, NY
Signed and dated lower left: D. F. Bigelow / 70
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Fairhaven Harbor (Old Tack Works Wharf)
Located in New York, NY
Signed lower right: Bradford
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Paper, Oil, Board

At Pasture
Located in New York, NY
Leading Hudson River School Painter Famous for New England Views
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Twilight on the Sawmill River
Located in New York, NY
Signed and dated lower right: J.F. Cropsey 1887
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

River Landscape
By John Dolph
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
John Henry Dolph, is best known as painter of domestic animals, especially cats. He was born in 1835 in Fort Ann, New York, and spent much of his career th...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

View Down on the Bay
By Edward Rawstorne
Located in New York, NY
Rawstorne was active/lived in New York.
Category

Mid-19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Ruins with Figures
Located in New York, NY
Famed Hudson River School painter and architect.
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Paper, Oil

A Trail through the Trees
Located in New York, NY
Monogrammed lower left: ABierstadt
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Board, Oil

Lake George, New York
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed & dated lower right. Known as a painter of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Samuel Griggs was listed as an architect in the Boston City directory from 1848 to 1852, a...
Category

Late 19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Moonlight Seascape
Located in New York, NY
Monogrammed lower left: ATBRICHER
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sailboats by the Shore
Located in Concord, MA
JOHN ADAMS PARKER Oil on canvas 6 x 10 inches Monogrammed at lower right with conjoined initials: JAP Gifford style frame PROVENANCE Harbor Gallery, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Category

1870s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

California Mill
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed & dated, lower left, 1869 Herman Ottomar Herzog was born in Bremen, Germany, on November 15, 1831. He studied art at the Dusseldorf Academy, starting in 1848, under several classical landscape painters. In 1855, Herzog made his first visit to Norway. The trip was a milestone in Herzog's career as it exposed him to the rugged landscape of the Norwegian wilderness and instilled in him a lifelong sense of nature that was to show in all his work. During the late 1850's and early 1860's, Herzog's fame spread throughout Europe. His paintings were collected for their dynamic realism and strong atmospheric effects. Among his patrons were several of Europe's royal families, including Queen Victoria of England and Grand Duke Alexander of Russia. He exhibited in the Paris Salon in 1863 and 1864, winning an Honorable Mention. While in Paris, it is thought that Herzog came into contact with the popular Barbizon School, whose adherents painted the grandeur and beauty of Nature in a romantic and realistic style. The effect of the Barbizon painters can also be seen in Herzog's poetic handling of mood and color. Although he was still in Europe, Herzog sent several paintings for exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy from 1863 to 1869. He had several friends in the United States and they were developing a rather good demand for his work. It is not known exactly when Herzog decided to come to America. Sometime in the late 1860's he settled in Philadelphia. Besides wanting a developing market for his work, Herzog left Bremen due to rising political agitation by Prussia, which had just absorbed Bremen into its domain. In America, Herzog continued to paint his romantic landscapes, finding the American wilderness well suited to his style. In 1871, he traveled up the Hudson River on a painting tour. In 1873, he took his first trip west, going to Yosemite, then to Wyoming, Oregon, and along the West Coast to the Coronado Island, near the Mexican border. Herzog made several journeys west, finding each trip more fruitful than the last. He became known for his depictions of Yosemite, receiving great acclaim for a fine El Capitan, much in the style of his fellow countryman and painter Albert Bierstadt. His last trip west was in 1905, at the age of 74. In 1876, Herzog participated in the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, showing a Norwegian scene and a Yosemite landscape...
Category

1860s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Forest Clearing
By Roswell Morse Shurtleff
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower left. 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

Late 19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Landscape with Cows near Warwick, New York
Located in New York, NY
Signed and dated lower left: J. F. Cropsey / 1885
Category

Late 19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"The Harbor of Vera Cruz Mexico (Klackner 53)" an etching signed by Thomas Moran
Located in Milwaukee, WI
This black and white etching by American painter and print maker of the Hudson River School in New York: Thomas Moran, is a rare Klackner #53 of the catalogue raisonné, depicting "The Harbor of Vera...
Category

1880s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Parchment Paper, Etching

Pleasant Day
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower left J. A. Hekking was a versatile and talented landscape painter who lived in New York and Connecticut and was active from the early 1850's to the later 1870's. Hekking was a frequent participant at major exhibitions. His paintings were inspired by the Adirondack and White Mountains, Connecticut, New York views, and the Jersey shore. He worked with Frederick Rondeland. His paintings were actively acquired by important collectors including J.S. Farrand, Sarah Holderby, N.L. Lindsey, T. Foster, and George Watter Vincent Smith. Hekking exhibited at the National Academy of Design (eight paintings between 1859 and 1875); the 1865 Michigan State Fair; the Crystal Palace in New York, 1853; Cosmopolitan Art Association, 1858; Utica Art Association, 1868; Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1869; Boston;1869; the Buffalo YMCA, 1861 and the Chicago Industrial...
Category

Late 19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Fourteen Mile Island, Lake George
By Andrew Fisher Bunner
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Andrew Fisher Bunner ANA 1841-1897 Andrew Fisher Bunner was born in 1841 in New York City, and he studied there and in Europe. In fact, his career included extended travels in Fra...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American Hudson River School Seascape Sunset Sailboat Signed Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Very impressive 19th century Hudson River School pastel painting of sailing ships by George Herbert McCord (1848 - 1909). Pastel on board. Nicely framed. Image size, 6.5"H x 9"L.
Category

1880s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Pastel

"Lake Landscape" Hamilton Hamilton, Hudson River School View
Located in New York, NY
Hamilton Hamilton Lake Landscape, 1886 Initialed and dated lower right Oil on canvas 22 x 36 inches Of Scottish descent and born in Oxford, England, Hamilton Hamilton became a renow...
Category

1880s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Catskill Sawmill
Located in Missouri, MO
Afternoon In The Hudson River Valley, 1854 By. John William Hill (English, American, 1812-1879) Signed and Dated Lower Left Unframed: 20 x 30 inches Fra...
Category

1860s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Autumn Idle, Catskills, New York, October 23, 1885
Located in Missouri, MO
Autumn Idle, Catskills, New York, October 23, 1885 By. Jervis McEntee (American, 1828-1891) Unframed: 11.5" x 16" Framed: 20.5" x 25" Jervis McEntee was a landscape painter, born in 1828 in the Hudson River Valley in Rondout, New York. It was said that 'Nostalgia may well have been McEntee's middle name", and that he, always attempting to stir emotions in his viewers, often attached poetry to his paintings when exhibiting them. At a time when the Civil War and its after effects caused great disruption in America, McEntee's work may have provided a visual escape for the more educated. His works are rich with the colors of autumn and winter, and he, who often painted in the Catskill Mountains, preferred smaller views rather than panoramas. Usually detailed and simple, his works often reflect a sense of loneliness. As a youngster, McEntee would play in his parents attic, pretending it was an art studio. An unsuccessful attempt at business led McEntee back into the art profession where he studied in New York City under the influence of Frederic E. Church, master of the Hudson River Style, and soon had a showing of his own in the famous Tenth Street Studio Building by 1855. In about 1858, Mr. and Mrs. McEntee hired English architect Calvert Vaux to build a studio next to McEntee's fathers house in Rondout. There Jervis would spend most of his summers, painting the nearby Catskill Mountains, and returning to the city during the winter. At the outbreak of the Civil War, McEntee enlisted in the Union...
Category

Late 19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Picnic On The Mohawk
Located in Milford, NH
A wonderful landscape by American artist Thomas Mickell Burnham (1818-1866). Burnham was born in Boston, MA and received informal art training early on, traveling abroad before relo...
Category

Mid-19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"A Cloudy Day, " View of Montclair, New Jersey, Tonalist, Barbizon Scene
Located in New York, NY
George Inness (1825 - 1894) A Cloudy Day, 1886 Oil on canvas 25 x 30 inches Signed and dated lower center Provenance: The artist Estate of the above Fifth Avenue Galleries, New York, Executor's Sale of Paintings by the Late George Inness, N.A., February 12 - 14, 1895, Lot 132 Joseph H. Spafford, acquired from the above Mrs. Spafford, by bequest from the above Leroy Ireland, New York, 1951 Ernest Closuit, Fort Worth, Texas Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, circa 1960 Private Collection Shannon's Fine Art, American and European Fine Art Auction, October 27, 2016, Lot 42 Exhibited: New York, American Fine Arts Society, Exhibition of the Paintings Left by the Late George Inness, December 27, 1894, no. 90.  Literature: LeRoy Ireland, The Works of George Inness: An Illustrated Catalogue Raisonne, Austin, Texas, 1965, p. 336, no. 1324, illustrated. Michael Quick, "George Inness: A Catalogue Raisonne," Vol. II, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 2007, pp. 282-83, 311, no. 966, illustrated.  George Inness, one of America's foremost landscape painters of the late nineteenth century, was born in 1825 near Newburgh, New York. He spent most of his childhood in Newark, New Jersey. He was apprenticed to an engraving firm until 1843, when he studied art in New York with Regis Gignoux, a landscape painter from whom he learned the classical styles and techniques of the Old Masters. In 1851, sponsored by a patron, Inness made a fifteen-month trip to Italy. In 1853 he traveled to France, where he discovered Barbizon landscape painting, leading him to adopt a style that used looser, sketchier brushwork and more open compositions, emphasizing the expressive qualities of nature. After working in New York from 1854 to 1859, he moved to Medfield, Massachusetts, and four years later to New Jersey, where through a fellow painter he began to experiment with using glazes that would allow him to fill his compositions with subtle effects of light. Duncan Phillips remarked on Inness’s mellow light as a unifying force, saying, “…he was equipped to modernize the grand manner of Claude and to apply the methods of Barbizon to American subjects." At this time also, Inness developed an interest in the religious theories of Emanuel Swedenborg...
Category

1880s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Paint, Oil

New York Landscape
Located in Milford, NH
A fine oil painting of a coastal landscape by American artist George Henry Smillie (1840-1921). Smillie was born in New York, son of engraver James Smillie...
Category

1880s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Columbian Exhibition, the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Thaddeus Welch (American 1844-1919) The Columbian Exhibition, the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair 70 x 35”, oil on board signed Request Price The C...
Category

Late 19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil, Board

Antique American Hudson River School Panoramic Summer Landscape Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American school 19th century Hudson River School oil painting. No signature found. Unframed. Image size, 12H x 19 3/4L
Category

1880s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Adirondack Scene
By Augustus Rockwell
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower right and signed verso Augustus Rockwell was born in 1822. Although not a primary member of the Hudson River School, his landscapes often display the delicate renderi...
Category

Late 19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil, Board

Hudson River School art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Hudson River School art 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 art 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 art, so small editions measuring 2 inches across are also available. Prices for art 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 $13,267.

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