The Prairie on Fire
Alvan Fisher
1827
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
61 × 83.8 cm (24 × 33 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
196282
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Alvan Fisher was a pioneering American landscapist whose work offered an important precedent for the Hudson River School. This painting depicts a subject from James Fenimore Cooper’s 1827 novel The Prairie, the third of the five Leatherstocking Tales. In this scene, Natty Bumppo, the hero of the series, has created a firebreak to protect the story’s protagonists. As a Romantic-era artist, Fisher preferred such dramatic episodes, which involved striking contrasts between light and dark. Unlike co...