River Rapids

Maker Thomas Doughty (American, 1793 - 1856)

Collections

American Paintings Selections

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Date1825

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions22 × 32 in. (55.9 × 81.3 cm.) frame: 29 3/4 × 38 1/2 × 3 3/4 in. (75.6 × 97.8 × 9.5 cm.)

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation

Status

On view

Label TextThomas Doughty created idealized, poetic paintings of the American landscape. Rather than strive for topographic accuracy, he combined detailed representations of familiar plants and geologic features of the northeastern United States with atmospheric lighting and metaphoric symbols. Here, toga-clad figures live in harmony with the natural world under a rainbow, which represents God's covenant with man after the Old Testament flood. Costume and setting combine to evoke on the one hand the classical democratic model upon which the United States was built and on the other a belief in America as a second Garden of Eden.

Doughty became an artist in the early 1820s after working as a tanner in his native Philadelphia. He taught himself to paint by studying Old Master paintings and watching other artists work. He came to be identified as one of the founders of the American landscape school because of his picturesque compositions of recognizably American scenery.

Object number83.8.12