Summer Afternoon

Asher Brown Durand

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Durand’s landscapes were so popular that they were often acquired by enthusiastic collectors almost as soon as the artist finished painting them. Morris K. Jesup, who commissioned this painting, also owned "The Beeches" (15.30.59) and several other important pictures by artists of the Hudson River School. In this view of luminous water and misty distance, he demonstrated how carefully he analyzed the subtle changes taking place in nature and showed how well he knew the technical secrets of depicting them.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art