View of a Lake
1834
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
About the artist
Artist
Thomas Doughty
American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1793–1856 New York
See the richer artist page1834
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
View of a Lake is a 1834 unspecified by Thomas Doughty, a American Folk Art work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A calm lake fills most of this painting. Two boys sit on its grassy edge, small against the wide water and sky. Trees frame the scene on both sides. Clouds drift overhead in soft white puffs. Doughty shows nature’s quiet side. He often left out storms or drama. Instead, he painted peaceful moments like this. The boys aren’t the focus—they just add life to the calm. Look up Thomas Doughty (American, 1793–1856) next.
Contrasting the many American landscape painters who conveyed nature's power through raging storms and blasted trees, Doughty emphasized the quiet power of the outside world in his idyllic paintings. Largely self-taught, he often drew from nature and skillfully transformed his detailed observances into soft, poetic depictions of the landscape. This work exhibits Doughty's penchant for inserting small figures in the center of the middle ground. The scale of the two boys on the lake's edge allows the viewer to focus on the expansive scenery, thereby emphasizing the diminutive nature of…
Read the full account in the museum source.
American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1793–1856 New York
See the richer artist page
