Landscape with Cows Watering in a Stream

Robert S. Duncanson

1871 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

Born free in upstate New York, the Black American painter Duncanson established an international reputation for his Hudson River School inspired landscapes during the Civil War era. Self-taught, he began his career in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he came to the attention of abolitionist leaders, who later sponsored his study in Europe. By 1861, Duncanson was hailed in the American press as "the best landscape painter in the West." At the height of his career, he successfully toured his paintings in England and Scotland, where he lived for a period of time. Self-exiled in Montreal during the Civil War, Duncanson also helped launch a Canadian landscape movement.

Artist

Robert S. Duncanson

Date

1871

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence A. Fleischman, 1974