Morning among the Hills

Largely self-taught, Philadelphia-born Thomas Doughty trained as a leather currier before beginning to paint seriously around 1816 (by 1820, he had completely abandoned craft for art). He was deeply influenced by ideas of the Sublime and Picturesque, as derived from English art theory. According to this literary and artistic tradition, the drama and force of nature have the power to evoke feelings of awe in the viewer, who accordingly becomes aware of the divine force that has made all things. Doughty also responded to the balanced classical landscape tradition of the seventeenth-century French painter Claude Lorrain, whose works he knew from engravings. The abundant landscape of the young United States offered the artist numerous opportunities for inspiration and reflection - particularly the scenery of the Hudson River Valley, as is evident in "Morning Among the Hills," painted five years after Doughty was elected an Academician of the Pennsylvania Academy. The dramatic scale of the riverbanks and distant hills are just beginning to be haloed by the morning sun instills feelings of grandeur in the spectator, while a majestic bevy of swans regally glides through the foreground, undisturbed by activity save the rushing water itself. Such quiet, moving visions of the new American landscape garnered Doughty much acclaim early in his career.