A landscape painter based in New York City and associated with the second generation of Hudson River School painters, David Johnson was noted for his ability to delineate accurate rock formations and foliage. He was especially influenced by the work of Hudson River painters Jasper Francis Cropsey, John Casilear, and John Frederick Kensett. He also painted an occasional still life.
Johnson was born and raised in New York City, but little else is known about his early life. He studied briefly with Cropsey but said that his best teacher was nature, which he utilized in his paintings from his frequent trips to the Hudson River Valley, especially the areas around West Point and Fort Putnam.
Johnson painted his first nature studies in 1849, and that year first received public acclaim for his work exhibited at the National Academy of Design and the American Art Union. In 1860, he was elected a full Academician.
Primarily Johnson painted in the Northeast, doing views of the Catskills, Adirondacks, Lake George, the Hudson River and the White Mountains, where he worked in the early 1850s with a colony of artists around North Conway. His early landscapes tend to be panoramas, rock studies, or forest interiors. In the middle of his career, he adopted a more luminist style and did tranquil marine scenes such as flowing rivers, and his later work showed Tonalist influence of the French Barbizon School with pastoral subjects. It is written that this period in his career was not much distinguished and that "Influenced by the barbizon style, his work became monotonous and less articulate." (Michael David Zellman, 300 Years of American Art)
In the 1880s, Johnson’s reputation began to diminish, and by the time he died his work was virtually unappreciated. Many years later, it was re-discovered by scholars who appreciated his great skills of naturalist documentation.
Find original David Johnson paintings on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by Saratoga Fine Art)
Hudson River School Watercolor Titled Fishing the Creek
By David Johnson
Located in Fredericksburg, VA
David Johnson was born in 1827 in New York City. Beginning in 1845, he studied for two years in the antique school of the National Academy of Design. His classmates and colleagues in...
Paper, Watercolor
Oil landscape of Autumn Forest
By David Johnson
Located in Fredericksburg, VA
This Hudson River School autumn landscape is done by the famed artist David Johnson. He studied at the national Academy of Design in New York. He was best known for the development o...
Canvas, Oil
Figure in a Landscape
By David Johnson
Located in New York, NY
Signed (at lower right): DJ [monogram]; (on back): David Johnson 1865
Oil, Board
$4,500
H 14.5 in W 17.5 in D 0.75 in
Charles Partridge Adams Sunset Front Range Colorado Watercolor Landscape
By Charles Partridge Adams
Located in Denver, CO
A luminous early 20th-century watercolor landscape by Charles Partridge Adams depicting a dramatic Colorado sunset along the Front Range, where expansive prairie, a winding creek, an...
Watercolor
$3,475
H 15 in W 19 in D 2 in
Luminous Hudson River School Landscape Cows Grazing Wide Gold Frame Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
A finely rendered 19th century Hudson River School landscape depicting cattle grazing within an expansive open field, set beneath a softly illuminated sky. The composition is anchore...
Canvas, Oil
$15,000
H 15 in W 25 in
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...
Canvas, Oil
Gone Fishing
Located in North Clarendon, VT
Wonderful Hudson River School oil on board of a fisherman in a peaceful River scene. Monogram and dated on reverse. 9.25" x 12.25" housed in a carved frame measuring 11.5" x 14.5".
Oil
$4,500
H 31.5 in W 39 in D 2.5 in
“Quebec City, 1853” Panoramic Landscape View, Cityscape, Canada Signed Oil
By Edmund C. Coates
Located in Yardley, PA
“Quebec City, 1853” by Edmund C. Coates (American, 1816-1871). A luminous 19th-century view of Quebec City by the American painter Edmund C. Coates, known for his detailed Hudson Ri...
Canvas, Oil
Dawn at the River
Located in North Clarendon, VT
Wonderful Hudson River School painting, oil on canvas. Obviously painted by a talented artist, unsigned and a mystery for you to solve. Canvas stamped Edward Dechaux NY. An amazing...
Oil
Vermont Barns - Neutral Monochromatic Study in Grays
By John Koch
Located in Miami, FL
Understated town-scape in grays and muted blues. It's a painting that looks better as you get closer to it. Koch brings the same serene intimacy to an outdoor scene as his interiors....
Oil, Board
$12,500
H 16.5 in W 23 in D 2.25 in
“Manchester-by-the-Sea” Ann Sophia Towne Darrah, 19th C. Female Artist American
Located in Yardley, PA
About this work: “Manchester-by-the-Sea” by Ann Sophia Towne Darrah (American, 1819-1881). Darrah was among the earliest American women to establish a professional reputation as a p...
Oil, Board
“Woodland Study”
Located in San Francisco, CA
Remarkably, this painting tells its own story on the verso. To save your eyesight, here's what it reveals: James McDougal Hart (1828-1901) Landscape, animal, and portrait painter. A ...
Canvas, Linen, Oil
$4,975
H 29 in W 43 in D 2 in
Antique American Realist Cow Farm Large 19th Century Landscape Framed Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American realist cow farm landscape oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Measuring: 29 by 41 inches overall, and 24 by 36 painting alone.. In excellent original condition. ...
Oil, Canvas
$2,530
H 15.5 in W 27.5 in D 2 in
"Landscape with Sheep" by Daniel Folger Bigelow (1823-1910), Oil on Canvas
By Daniel Folger Bigelow
Located in Portland, OR
"Landscape with Sheep" by Daniel Folger Bigelow (July 22, 1823 - July 14, 1910), Oil on Canvas, signed D. F. Bigelow lower right corner. An American painter active in New England an...
Canvas, Oil
$1,000
H 13 in W 19 in D 0.5 in
"Sailing on the Hudson River" American Oil Painting on Board of Ships at Sea
By Kristina Nemethy
Located in New York, NY
A Fine depiction of a Sailing Ship in the Hudson River. For this wonderful depiction, Nemethy uses a Fine technique which depicts the figures on the boat in a miniature way. With joyful colors, this piece is bright and peaceful. This painting is signed by the artist lower left and it comes comes housed in a beautiful simple wood frame and ready to be displayed with hanging wire on verso. This painting measures 8 x 14 inches Framed measures 13 x 19 inches PROVENANCE: Lilac Gallery...
Oil, Board
Sold
H 11.75 in W 15.87 in
"Byram Lake, New York" David Johnson, Hudson River School Landscape, Westchester
By David Johnson
Located in New York, NY
David Johnson Byram Lake, New York Monogrammed lower right; signed and titled on the reverse Oil on board 7 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches A landscape painter based in New York City and associ...
Oil, Board
Oak - Lake George
By David Johnson
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed & dated middle right. A landscape painter based in New York City and associated with the second generation of Hudson River School painters, David Johnson was noted for his ...
Paper, Pencil