Lake Scene

Description

Lake Scene

Sanford R. Gifford, 1866

This serene vista was likely painted at Lake Champlain. However, it was probably painted from the Vermont side looking west toward New York. The dense forest bordering the lake contrasts in detail with the empty foreground, dotted by several tree stumps cut by man. Normally we might see a contemplative figure communing with nature. Instead, we see two people establishing a property line with a wall fashioned from stone and logs.

Clearing the land marked the beginning of the threat to the unspoiled wilderness ideal extolled in the paintings by the Hudson River School artists. Gifford was a member of the Hudson River School of American landscape painting, as well as one of the few artists who actively participated in the Civil War. His serene image alludes to the peaceful rebuilding of a nation after the violence and disruption of war. For example, his rendition of tree stumps, a stone wall, and the figures of a man and a woman symbolize peaceful life.

Lake Scene is part of our Shaping America Exhibition.

What’s Going On?

The image is a landscape painting. The foreground consists of open pastureland with exposed rock ledge and tree stumps dotted throughout.  In the middle ground, a bank of trees in autumn color foliage spans the width of the composition.  Rocks sitting in water appear beyond the trees. The background is the silhouette of a small mountain range. It is higher on the left and gradually descends to water level on the right.