A Federal-period house museum in Putnam County is donating an historic painting across the Hudson River, to West Point.
Officials with Garrison-based Boscobel House & Gardens are donating the oil on canvas entitled View of West Point to the West Point Museum. The painting dates to 1856, but is unsigned. Curators say the quality of the imagery and execution suggests it was painted by a highly competent, self-taught artist of the period. They say that while many members of the Hudson River School are well known today, this canvas by an unknown painter illustrates the Hudson River’s appeal for artists. The Hudson Highlands, which appear in the background of the picture, were featured frequently and prominently in 19th-century prints, paintings, drawings and eventually photography.
