Sponsored Link


Bible | Movies | Books | People | Hot Topics | Holidays | Humor | Gallery | Sanctuary | Sermons | Prayer | Quizzes | Communities | God | FAQ | Links
Sponsored Link


The Hudson River School
Nature's God

The Hudson River School was the first coherent movement or "school" of American art, beginning with the works of Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and Asher B. Durand (1796-1886), it included Jasper F. Cropsey, Frederick Edwin Church, Geroge Innes, Albert Bierstadt, Martin Johnson Heade, and others.  This group of painters, several of whom lived and worked in the Hudson River region, reflected a dawning awareness not only of the beauty of the American landscape, but also its capacity for the renewal and inspiration of the spirit. Many of these artists went about their work with an awareness that they were capturing not just the colors and shapes of the natural world, but the living presence of what the founders of the republic referred to as "Nature's God."  While they were influenced by European landscape painters, they were alert to Ralph Waldo Emerson's challenge "to ignore the courtly Muses of Europe" and create a uniquely American art. The mid 19th century was a time of expansion for the young nation, and the Hudson River painters depicted a New World which was, in all its vastness and beauty, an unmistakable sign of God's handiwork. 

I've included representative works of the major Hudson River artists in the pages that follow. Click on any of the images in the table that follows to see a much larger version of that painting, including its title and the name of the artist.  Or click here to start the slideshow at the beginning.

502000.GIF (176645 bytes)502004.GIF (215352 bytes)502006.GIF (220118 bytes)
502026.GIF (161736 bytes)502044.GIF (161292 bytes)502045.GIF (177456 bytes)
502053.GIF (183426 bytes)502054.GIF (187936 bytes)502060.GIF (166579 bytes)
502089.GIF (170434 bytes)502090.GIF (183157 bytes)502097.GIF (195719 bytes)

More information on the Hudson River School

Images on this page and within this article are © The Corel Corporation. Used by contract with the Corel Corporation.

Charles Henderson

Please take a moment to let us know you were here!  
Just send us an email to

If you want to talk with someone in person,  please feel free to call 917-439-2305

The Rev. Charles P. Henderson is a Presbyterian minister and is the author of God and Science (John Knox Press, 1986).  
A revised and expanded version of the book is appearing here.
God and Science (Hypertext Edition, 2015).
He is also editor of a new book, featuring articles by world class scientists and theologians, and illustrating the leading views on the relationship between science and religion:
Faith, Science and the Future (CrossCurrents Press, 2017).

Charles also tracks the boundry between the virtual and the real at his blog: Next World Design, focusing on the mediation of art, science and spirituality in the metaverse.  

For more information about Charles Henderson.
Sponsored Link