An October Day in the White Mountains

Artist
John Frederick Kensett
Year
1854
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
Framed: 107.6 x 152.1 x 12.7 cm (42 3/8 x 59 7/8 x 5 in.); Unframed: 79.8 x 123.5 cm (31 7/16 x 48 5/8 in.)

The rolling foothills of New Hampshire lie beneath a wide, serene sky, their slopes already touched with the gold and russet of early autumn. John Frederick Kensett was the quiet master of the Hudson River School, preferring luminous calm to his colleagues’ drama, and this 1854 canvas is one of his purest statements. The glassy lake, the soft blue distance and the long horizontal light create a landscape of stillness and air — America as a place of peace.