Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900)

Kenneth W. Maddox writes, "In the 19th century, the Torne Mountain area was celebrated for both its beauty and historical associations...Cropsey described in his journal on September 14, 1846, what may have been his only ascent of the mountain: 'One afternoon we...left the house at 3 on an excursion to the peak of the Tourn [sic] Mountain. We had a long and toilsome walk in ascending, and another equally so in returning...The view from the mountain is very extensive. It is said that from here Gen. Washington watched the motions of the armies during some of those Revolutionary struggles that passed off in contention of the Hudson River.'" (Jasper Francis Cropsey, Catalogue Raisonné: Works in Oil, vol. 1, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, 2013, pp. 92-93)

When the present work was exhibited at the National Academy in 1851, George W. Curtis of the New York Daily Tribune praised, "The bold, black cliff rising suddenly and sheer against the cool quiet of the distant sky, and stretching into the somber massiveness of the storm-cloud over it, is very forcible and fine. There is here a variety of effect, without the slightest monotony or poverty of detail...There is an extreme poetic beauty in this little picture..." When exhibited at the American Art-Union later that year, the painting was further exalted by The Albion as "the best picture which we have seen from his easel." (as quoted in Jasper Francis Cropsey, Catalogue Raisonné: Works in Oil, p. 93)