The following is a list of painters in the Hudson River School, a mid-19th-century American art movement. The movement was led by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism. Some of these artists are also considered luminists, a related movement in mid-19th-century American painting that was characterized in the twentieth century. Their paintings depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area, as well as the Catskill Mountains, Adirondack Mountains, and White Mountains of New Hampshire. Note that "school" in this sense refers to a group of people whose outlook, inspiration, output, or style demonstrates a common thread, rather than a learning institution.
Artists are listed alphabetically by surname.
| Artist Name | Portrait | Famous Work | Birth | Death | Description | Refs | | Charles Baker |
More images | 1839 | 1888 | An American landscape painter of the Hudson River School. He painted idyllic landscape paintings of an early American wilderness and the scenic vistas of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. He exhibited at the National Academy from 1839 to 1873 and at the American Art-Union in 1847. He was deeply influenced by the dramatic work of Thomas Cole and painted in a romantic style clearly tied to Cole’s sublime aesthetic. He was one of the founders of the Art League of New York. |
| William Bliss Baker |
More images | 1859 | 1886 | An American artist who began painting just as the Hudson River school was winding down. He studied at the National Academy of Design under Bierstadt and de Haas, and maintained studios in Clifton Park, New York, and New York City, where he painted in oils and watercolors. He completed more than 130 paintings, including several works in black and white. Baker was just beginning to hit his stride as a landscape painter when he died at his father's house at Hoosick Falls, New York, at the age of 26. The New York Times said that his death "deprived America of one of its most promising artists." Fallen Monarchs (left) is considered to be his masterpiece. It was painted in the Ballston Lake area. | [1] |
| John Dodgson Barrow |
More images | 24 November 1824 | 7 December 1906 |
| Susie M. Barstow |
| 1836 | June 12, 1923 | An avid hiker and early member of the Appalachian Mountain Club, she is known for light-filled landscapes that exude serenity. |
| Julie Hart Beers |
More images | 1835 | August 13, 1913 | One of the few women of the Hudson River School to be commercially successful, she painted sweeping, well-balanced compositions with telling details. |
| Albert Fitch Bellows |
More images | 20 November 1829 | 24 November 1883 |
| Albert Bierstadt |
More images | 7 January 1830 | 18 February 1902 | A German-American painter best known for his large, detailed landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion. Though not the first artist to record these sites, Bierstadt was the foremost painter of these scenes for the remainder of the 19th century. | [2] |
| DeWitt Clinton Boutelle |
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| James Renwick Brevoort |
More images | 20 July 1832 | 15 December 1918 |
| Alfred Thompson Bricher |
More images | 10 April 1837 | 30 September 1908 | An American artist, one of the last painters in Hudson River school, known for his exploration of the effects of light and how it reflected, refracted, and absorbed on landscapes and seascapes. |
| George Loring Brown |
More images | 2 February 1814 | 25 June 1889 |
| William Mason Brown |
More images | 1828 | 1898 |
| Johann Hermann Carmiencke |
More images | 1810 | 15 June 1867 |
| John William Casilear |
More images | 25 June 1811 | 17 August 1893 | An engraver who was encouraged to take up painting by Asher Durand |
| Thomas Chambers |
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| Charles H. Chapin |
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| Frederic Edwin Church |
More images | 4 May 1826 | 7 April 1900 | A student of Thomas Cole, he became a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters. Church is perhaps best known for painting large panoramic landscapes, often depicting dramatic natural phenomena, with emphasis on light and a romantic respect for natural detail. In his later years, Church painted classical European and Middle Eastern cityscapes. He created many of his works at Olana. | [2] |
| Thomas Cole |
More images | 1 February 1801 | 11 February 1848 | Commonly acknowledged as the founder of the Hudson River School, he painted scenes near his home in Catskill, New York | [2][3] |
| Samuel Colman |
More images | 4 March 1832 | 26 March 1920 | A National Academician whose landscapes show the influence of the Hudson River School, he is believed to have studied under Asher Durand. |
| Jasper Francis Cropsey |
More images | 18 February 1823 | 23 April 1900 | A first-generation member of the Hudson River School, he painted autumn landscapes that startled viewers with their boldness and brilliance. As an artist, he believed landscapes were the highest art form and that nature was a direct manifestation of God. Cropsey was a founding member of the American Watercolor Society, and was one of few Hudson River School artists to paint in that medium. |
| William Moore Davis |
More images | 22 May 1829 | 26 March 1920 |
| Lockwood de Forest |
More images | 8 June 1850 | 3 April 1932 |
| Victor DeGrailly |
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| Thomas Doughty |
More images | 19 July 1793 | 22 July 1856 | The first American artist to work exclusively as a landscapist and was successful both for his skill and the fact that Americans were turning their interest to landscape. | [4] |
| Robert Duncanson |
More images | 1821 | 21 December 1872 | An African American artist painting before and during the Civil War whose landscapes were influenced by the Hudson River School |
| Asher Brown Durand |
More images | 21 August 1796 | 17 September 1886 | An engraver who took up landscape painting, he is particularly remembered for his detailed portrayals of trees, rocks, and foliage, especially with his masterpiece, Kindred Spirits. He also mentored and encouraged many other more junior artists. | [2] |
| Samuel P. Dyke |
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| Alvan Fisher |
More images | 9 August 1792 | 13 February 1863 |
| William Charles Anthony Frerichs |
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| Charles Henry Gifford |
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| Sanford Robinson Gifford |
More images | 10 July 1823 | 29 August 1880 | One of the leading members of the Hudson River School. Gifford's landscapes are known for their emphasis on light and soft atmospheric effects, and he is regarded as a practitioner of Luminism, an offshoot style of the Hudson River School. |
| Régis François Gignoux |
More images | 1816 | 1882 |
| Eliza Pratt Greatorex |
More images | 25 December 1819 | 9 February 1897 |
| Hamilton Hamilton |
More images | 1 April 1847 | 4 January 1928 | A painter and etcher, known mostly for his landscapes of the American West. |
| James McDougal Hart |
More images | 10 May 1828 | 24 October 1901 | A Scottish-born American landscape and cattle painter of the Hudson River School. His older brother, William Hart, was also a Hudson River School artist, and the two painted similar subjects. Sister Julie Hart Beers (Kempson) was also a landscape artist of this school. |
| William Hart |
More images | 31 March 1823 | 17 June 1894 | A Scottish-born American landscape and cattle painter, and Hudson River School artist. His younger brother, James McDougal Hart, was also a Hudson River School artist, and the two painted similar subjects. He studied under Jules-Joseph Lefebvre. |
| William Stanley Haseltine |
More images | 11 June 1835 | 3 February 1900 | An American painter and draftsman who was associated with the Hudson River School and Luminism. By 1859 he was installed in the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York City, then a central point for American landscape painters; also in the building were Frederic Edwin Church, Albert Bierstadt, and Worthington Whittredge, the latter two having befriended Haseltine in Europe. |
| Robert Havell, Jr. |
More images | 25 November 1793 | 11 November 1878 |
| Martin Johnson Heade |
More images | 11 August 1819 | 4 September 1904 | A prolific artist who painted many different subjects including landscapes. There are mixed views as to whether Heade is part of the Hudson River School or was only partially influenced by it. Regardless, he was friends with many of the more prominent members, including Church. |
| Hermann Ottomar Herzog |
More images | 15 November 1831 | 6 February 1932 | A German landscape painter who moved to Pennsylvania and painted subjects across the United States. He is considered a part of the Hudson River School, but typically painted a more realistic and less dramatic scene than Bierstadt or Church. |
| Thomas Hill |
More images | 11 September 1829 | 30 June 1908 | An English born painter, he moved to the United States at age 15. He produced many fine paintings of the California landscape, in particular of the Yosemite Valley, as well as the White Mountains of New Hampshire. |
| Ransome Gillett Holdridge |
More images | 1836 | 1899 |
| George Inness |
More images | 1 May 1825 | 3 August 1894 |
| David Johnson |
More images | 10 May 1827 | 30 January 1908 | Johnson was born in New York City and studied for two years at the antique school of the National Academy of Design. He also studied briefly with Jasper Francis Cropsey. Along with John Frederick Kensett and John William Casilear, he was best known for the development of Luminism. |
| John Frederick Kensett |
More images | 22 March 1816 | 14 December 1872 | Kensett is best known for his landscapes of upstate New York and New England and seascapes of coastal New Jersey, Long Island and New England. |
| Charles Wilson Knapp |
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| Edmund Darch Lewis |
More images | 17 October 1835 | 12 August 1910 |
| Homer Dodge Martin |
More images | 28 October 1836 | 12 February 1897 |
| George McCord |
More images | 1 August 1848 | 6 April 1909 |
| Jervis McEntee |
More images | 14 July 1828 | 27 January 1891 | An American painter of the Hudson River School. He is a somewhat lesser-known figure of the 19th-century American art world, but was the close friend and traveling companion of several of the important Hudson River School artists. |
| Mary Blood Mellen |
More images | 1819 | 1886 | Mellen studied under Fitz Henry Lane and developed a luminist style for her landscapes and maritime subjects. |
| Louis Rémy Mignot |
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| Charles Herbert Moore |
More images | 10 April 1840 | 15 February 1930 | Considered a minor member of the Hudson River School, Moore later began painting in the Pre-Raphaelite style. He later became the first art professor at Harvard University, and the first director of the university's Fogg Art Museum. Moore was one of few watercolor painters in the Hudson River School, and was an early member of the American Watercolor Society. |
| Thomas Moran |
More images | 12 February 1837 | 25 August 1926 | An artist of the Hudson River School. Thomas Moran's vision of the Western landscape was critical to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. His pencil and watercolor field sketches and paintings captured the grandeur and documented the extraordinary terrain and natural features of the Yellowstone region. |
| William Sidney Mount |
More images | 26 November 1807 | 19 November 1868 |
| Arthur Parton |
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| Harriet Cany Peale |
More images | 1799 | 1869 |
| Frederic Remington |
More images | 4 October 1861 | 26 December 1909 |
| William Trost Richards |
More images | 14 November 1833 | 8 November 1905 |
| Ferdinand Richardt |
More images | 10 April 1819 | 29 October 1895 |
| Thomas Prichard Rossiter |
More images | 20 September 1818 | 17 May 1871 |
| Francis Augustus Silva |
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| William Louis Sonntag Sr. |
More images | 1822 | 1900 |
| James Augustus Suydam |
More images | 1819 | 1865 |
| William Guy Wall |
More images | 1792 | 1864 |
| Mary Josephine Walters |
More images | 1837 | 1883 |
| Paul Weber |
More images | 19 January 1823 | 12 October 1916 |
| Robert Walter Weir |
More images | 18 June 1803 | 1 May 1889 | Elected to the National Academy of Design in 1829, Robert Weir was an American artist associated with the Hudson River School. He was an instructor at the United States Military Academy for forty-two years, 1832-1874. |
| Worthington Whittredge |
More images | 22 May 1820 | 25 February 1910 | An American artist of the Hudson River School. He was a highly regarded artist of his time, and was friends with several leading Hudson River School artists including Albert Bierstadt and Sanford Robinson Gifford. He traveled widely and excelled at landscape painting, many examples of which are now in major museums. He served as president of the National Academy of Design from 1874 to 1875. |
| John Williamson |
More images | 1826 | 28 May 1885 | Scottish-American painter |
1. ^{{cite book|title=Hudson River School|first=Agnes Halsey|last=Jones|publisher=W. F. Humphrey Press|year=1968 |location=Geneseo, New York, United States |chapter=Introduction—The Hudson River School|pages=1–9, 16-17}}
2. ^1 2 3 {{cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hurs/hd_hurs.htm|title=The Hudson River School|first=Kevin J. |last=Avery|date=October 2004|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|accessdate=28 November 2018|archivedate=28 November 2018|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/74GzQuyU3|deadurl=no}}
3. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/arts/thomas-cole-hudson-river-school-artists.html|title='Scenes of Solitude' From Hudson River School Artists|first=John|last=Hanc|date=23 October 2017|accessdate=28 November 2018|publisher=The New York Times|archivedate=28 November 2018|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/74GzDKluX|deadurl=no}}
4. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Doughty |title=Thomas Doughty |first=Naomi |last=Blumberg |display-authors=etal|publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=20 July 2018 |accessdate=27 November 2018 |archivedate= 28 November 2018 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/74GyMB1jt |deadurl=no}}
{{Hudson River School}}{{Romanticism}}{{use dmy dates|date=November 2010}}{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Hudson River School Artists}}