Autumn Oaks
ca. 1878
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
20 3/8 x 30 1/8 in. (54.3 x 76.5 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of George I. Seney, 1887
Accession Number
87.8.8
Tags
Art Historical Context
George Inness's *Autumn Oaks* (ca. 1878) captures the serene beauty of an American autumn landscape in oil on canvas, measuring 20 3/8 x 30 1/8 inches. Donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in1887 by George I Seney, this work now graces The American Wing, evoking quiet majesty of nature with its depiction of ancient oaks in fiery fall foliage, grazing cows, and misty fields. A leading figure in American landscape painting, Inness bridged the detailed realism of the Hudson River School with the softer, mood-driven Tonalism of the late 19th century. His technique employs loose brushwork and...
About the Artist
George Inness · 1825–1894
George Inness (1825–1894) was an American landscape painter regarded as one of the most important figures in nineteenth-century American art, bridging the Hudson River School tradition and a more personal, spiritually-inflected vision of nature. Born near Newburgh, New York, he received limited formal training, studying briefly with Régis François Gignoux, but was largely self-taught, developing h...