Hudson River School

Bryant, Willan Cullen

Poet celebrating American landscapes.
Context: Inspired artists to portray nature as moral and spiritual.

Cluade

Claude Lorrain, French painter of idealized landscapes.
Context: Influenced Hudson River School composition and lighting.

Cooper, James Fenimore

Novelist romanticizing the American frontier.
Context: Inspired visual depictions of untouched wilderness and national identity.

Irving, Washington

Novelist portraying nostalgic, early American life.
Context: Complemented romanticized landscape painting.

pastoral

Peaceful, cultivated landscape harmonizing humans and nature.
Context: Represented moral order in Hudson River School works.

picturesque

Aesthetic ideal emphasizing irregularity and visual variety.
Context: Structured compositions balancing wildness and beauty.