(Small Landscape)

Thomas Hicks, born Newtown, PA 1823-died Trenton Falls, NY 1890 · 1862

Thomas Hicks painted many images of the hills and rivers around his home in New York. Americans enjoyed scenic paintings of the landscape like this, which emphasized the peaceful relationship between man and nature. Industrialization in the nineteenth century took over many areas of countryside, and people bought images of the landscape to replace the view that had disappeared from their doorstep. The flat gray sky and the subdued browns and greens of this landscape evoke a hazy, midsummer afternoon in upstate New York.