Connecticut Seen/Connecticut Scene

Landscape painting in the 19th century was filled with cultural significance. It reflected a deeply-felt connection with nature and the land that was evident in literature, architecture, science, philosophy, and politics.

Landscape painters in the early decades of the nineteenth century believed that nature was the embodiment of the divine and created scenes filled with closely observed natural details light with a celestial glow.

The painting of landscapes in Connecticut also reveals significant changes in the state’s natural environment through the subjects selected by the artists with encouragement from patrons, customers, and critics.

This selection of painting presents the land as it changed, and the changing values the artists brought to how we view the land.