View of Schroon Mountain, Essex County, New York, After a Storm1838 · Study 1917.1335

Context from the museum

Championing the American wilderness, Cole declared, "We are still in Eden," in his Essay on American Scenery, published two years before he painted this view of the Adirondacks. The artist sketched the scene in early summer, but when he created the painting in his studio, he rendered it in a dramatic blaze of fall colors. Such a choice likely had nationalistic overtones; he once proclaimed that autumn was "one season where the American forest surpasses all the world in gorgeousness." Cole included two Indigenous men in the painting’s right foreground foliage. At this time, the Adirondacks remained home to many Native Americans long after most had been forcibly removed from land east of the Mississippi River. While continuing to live, hunt, and fish in the area, these Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples were compelled to significantly adapt their existence amid increasing White settlement and its attendant lumber, mining, and tourist industries.

Museum description reproduced from its CC0 open-access record. Read the original catalog entry.

A detail to notice

Nicknamed "Schroon Mountain" by the artist, the peak's official name is Hoffman Mountain.

Observation supplied by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Read the dimensions before the image

The selected unframed measurement for View of Schroon Mountain, Essex County, New York, After a Storm is 160.6 cm wide and 99.8 cm high, equivalent to approximately 63.2 × 39.3 inches. Dividing width by height gives a format ratio of 1.61:1. The rectangular bounding area is 1.60 square meters; it describes the measured footprint, not the amount of paint or the monetary value.

On an illustrative 300 cm wall, the recorded width occupies 53.5% of the span before adding a frame. A centered placement leaves approximately 69.7 cm on each side before adding a frame. These are calculations by Physical Art For Crypto using museum measurements. They are not the museum’s display recommendations.

Questions to bring to your own collection

With View of Schroon Mountain, Essex County, New York, After a Storm in view, identify one feature you can point to, then distinguish what the museum records from your personal response. Keep its medium, oil on canvas, in your notes when comparing contemporary works.

• Which part of this horizontal composition catches your eye first?
• Would a 160.6 cm width still suit the space after allowing for furniture and a frame?
• What surface detail would you need to see in person or in a close photograph?