Landscape, Scene from "Thanatopsis" 

Asher Brown Durand made this landscape painting, "Scene from Thanatopsis", with oil on canvas in 1850. Durand was a key figure in the Hudson River School, a mid-19th century American art movement that romanticized the American landscape. This painting is particularly interesting as it is based on William Cullen Bryant's poem, "Thanatopsis," which reflects on death and nature. The landscape is not just a pretty picture; it's a meditation on the cycle of life and death, made during a time of rapid industrialization and social change in the United States. The choice of landscape as a subject reflects a yearning for simpler times and a connection to nature. The Hudson River School's emphasis on the American landscape was a way of creating a national identity through art. To understand it better, we need to look at the social, economic, and intellectual history of the time.