Lake George and the Village of Caldwell

Thomas Chambers

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

An emigrant from England, Chambers became a prolific landscape and marine painter, often relying on print sources for inspiration. This scene—which he based on a lithograph by Jacques Milbert—is set in upstate New York on the shores of Lake George. With its brilliant sunset and idyllic waterway dotted with sailboats, the work captures the rapid development of the region at midcentury. A flourishing haven of tourism, Caldwell village looms large with a prominent church spire stretching toward the horizon. Chambers’s bold and vibrantly colored landscapes appealed to urban patrons, who often displayed them in their parlors.

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