The Hudson River from Fort Montgomery 1870

David Johnson captured this expansive view of *The Hudson River from Fort Montgomery*. The Hudson River School artists, like Johnson, were active in a period shaped by expansion, industrialization, and a growing national identity. Their art emerged amidst debates about land use and the impact of industry. Johnson and his peers emphasized the sublime beauty of the American landscape. But they often overlooked the displacement of Indigenous communities and the labor that shaped these vistas. This landscape is not just an untouched wilderness. We see figures walking along a path and sheep grazing in the distance. These details suggest human use of the land, quietly weaving labor into the sublime. Such works celebrated an idealized vision of rural life. It encouraged a romantic relationship with nature, even as these landscapes were being altered by economic forces. This painting invites you to reflect on what it means to depict land as both a source of beauty and a site of ongoing social and economic transformation.