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)
Oil Landscape of Autumn Forest, Hudson River School, Mid-19th Century
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
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
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
$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
$6,000
H 19 in W 29 in
"Grand Manan" Harrison Bird Brown, Maine Landscape, Hudson River School Seascape
By Harrison Bird Brown
Located in New York, NY
Harrison Bird Brown (1831 - 1915) Grand Manan Oil on canvas 12 x 20 inches Signed with initials lower left Harrison Bird Brown was born in 1831 in Portland, Maine, and is best known for his White Mountain landscapes and marine paintings of Maine's Casco Bay...
Canvas, Oil
Folk Art American Hudson River School Landscape Figures Homes Rare 19th Century
Located in Buffalo, NY
A 19th century American landscape depicting a quiet coastal or lakeside scene at dusk, where a small cluster of houses rests along the water’s edge beneath a softly glowing sky. A n...
Oil, Board
$12,000
H 21.25 in W 28.5 in
"Harbour of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, " Julius Montalant, Maritime Port Trade
Located in New York, NY
Julius Montalant (1823 - 1898) Harbour of Rio Janeiro, 1843-1850 Oil on canvas 17 x 24 inches Signed and dated lower right; conservator's inscription on the reverse Born in Virginia, probably Norfolk, Julius Montalant is known for his drawings and paintings inspired by his travels on board navy ships. Attached to the USS St. Louis around 1844-45, he sketched ports of call he visited, including Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, and China. Many of his works are held in the Museum of the U.S. Naval Academy. Navy records indicate his rank as 'C. Clerk', which may mean that he held a civilian position. During the 1850s he lived in Philadelphia, and in 1851-61 he exhibited at the Philadelphia Art Union and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Included were paintings of North America, Greece...
Canvas, Oil
$1,150
H 12 in W 16 in D 1 in
Antique American Pastoral Hudson River Painting Farm Oxen 1890 19th Century Rare
Located in Buffalo, NY
A 19th century American landscape depicting a pastoral valley framed by autumnal trees, with distant mountains rising softly along the horizon. A river winds through the foreground, ...
Oil, Board
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
$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
$7,500
H 19.5 in W 15.5 in D 1.5 in
“Eastern White Pines, c. 1910”, New England Landscape, Signed Oil Painting
By Charles Warren Eaton
Located in Yardley, PA
“Eastern White Pines, c. 1910” by Charles Warren Eaton (American, 1857-1937). A wonderful example of Eaton’s renowned compositions of Eastern white pine trees in his mature style. A...
Canvas, Oil, Board
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
$7,600
H 32 in W 42 in D 2 in
Moonrise in the Mountains (Hudson River School Style Nighttime Landscape)
By Jane Bloodgood-Abrams
Located in Hudson, NY
Luminist, Hudson River School inspired landscape of Catskill mountains with moonlit blue sky "Moonrise in the Mountains", painted by Hudson Valley artist, Jane Bloodgood-Abrams in 20...
Canvas, Oil
$4,750
H 25.5 in W 29.5 in D 2 in
“Sierra Heights” by Paul Grimm Sierra Nevada Mountains California Landscape Oil
By Paul Grimm
Located in Yardley, PA
About this work: “Sierra Heights, 1971” by Paul Grimm (1892-1974). A beautiful view of the Sierra Nevada mountains by Grimm, one of the most beloved painters of the California lands...
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
Lake George New York
By David Johnson
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower left & verso. 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 ab...
Oil, Wood Panel
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