View on Lake George

John William Casilear

National Gallery of Art

A lake stretches from a spit of land in the lower left corner of this horizontal painting to hills and mountains that rise precipitously on the far bank in this hazy landscape. A dirt path winds through the grassy area between boulders and trees in the lower left corner. Tiny in scale, a person wearing a brown brimmed hat, a tan-colored jacket, and darker pants sits on a rock facing the water. A red object, perhaps a bag or portfolio, lies next to him, and he holds a rectangular object, perhaps a paint palette or sketchbook. Sunlight slices through the trees, low to the ground, to highlight the upper surfaces of the grass and stones while throwing the far side, facing the lake, into deep shadow. A person wearing a red jacket or shirt and a dark hat rows a canoe on the placid, muted blue lake. Sunlight warms the left-facing sides of the grassy, tree-dotted hills on the lake’s far shore, Taller, craggier mountains are smoky plum purple against a hazy, watery blue sky. The artist’s conjoined initials, “JWC,” are painted with white in the lower center of the canvas, as is the date, “57.”