Trees on a Rocky Hillside

c. 1849

Trees on a Rocky Hillside, c. 1849. Asher Brown Durand (American, 1796–1886). Oil on canvas; framed: 64.8 x 83.2 x 7.9 cm (25 1/2 x 32 3/4 x 3 1/8 in.); unframed: 42.5 x 61.3 cm (16 3/4 x 24 1/8 in.); former: 53.5 x 72 x 6.5 cm (21 1/16 x 28 3/8 x 2 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1968.21 Durand was one of the first American artists to paint outdoors, rather than in the confines of a studio, which was the longstanding tradition. This outdoor oil sketch of a seemingly random corner of the woods offers an intimate view of a granite outcropping amid lush vegetation. Its small-scale, unusually cropped composition contrasts with the sweeping vistas in many other landscapes of the era. Before becoming a painter, Durand designed paper currency for the federal government.