Chestnut and Pine

David Johnson (American, 1827–1908)

1869

Medium
graphite
Classification
Drawing
Dimensions
Sheet: 30.5 x 46.9 cm (12 x 18 7/16 in.)
Culture
America
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art, Drawings
Credit line
Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

Primarily self-taught, Johnson’s only formal training was a few lessons with Jasper F. Cropsey (also in this gallery). Johnson was, however, a devoted student of nature.

As was typical of artists of the Hudson River school, he constructed his paintings in the studio with the aid of detailed drawings he had made directly from nature. Probably drawn in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, this sheet pairs two distinct species of tree--a pine and a chestnut--in a harmonious composition.