| Description |
Many connections exist between the American artists of the Hudson River School, specifically Thomas Doughty, Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, George Inness, Frederick Church, and Albert Bierstadt, and the Dutch landscape painters of the seventeenth century. Among these connections are similarities in culture, notably in terms of economy, religion, and a sense of civic or national pride, as well as a shared interest in landscape painting, with both cultures witnessing the raising of the genre to new heights. A number of factors, including the Dutch history of the New York region, frequent travels abroad to view the work of the Old Masters, and the exchange of ideas among these American artists contributed to their interest in Dutch art. A close visual comparison of works of art by these Hudson River School artists and the Dutch landscape painters reveals remarkable similarities in the themes represented. Through the inclusion of diverse visual elements and motifs, including windmills, churches, and railroads, these artists made reference to the same three concepts, the same elements which their similar cultures shared economy, religion, and civic or national pride. |
