# Forest Interior with Stream

- By: John Frederick Kensett (born Cheshire, CT 1816-died New York City 1872)
- Date: ca. 1860-1870
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Classification: Paintings
- Dimensions: 17 3/8 x 14 1/2 in. (44.2 x 36.8 cm.)
- Credit line: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mrs. Francis J. McCoy
- Museum: [Smithsonian Institution](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=13574)
- Rights: [CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/9c67f1963205a4885cf2046fdfcc73d1.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

John Frederick Kensett painted intimate views of the landscape to express what he called in 1844 "that beautiful harmony in which God has created the universe" (Driscoll and Howat, John Frederick Kensett, An American Master, 1985). Images like Forest Interior with Stream suggested the nineteenth-century faith that the wilderness was a gift for man to enjoy. Kensett painted a small stream with only a few ripples to show an area of calm among the dark, tangled branches. The expressive brushstrokes and scratches of paint suggest he painted this on the spot.