TitleOn the Esopus
Artist
David Johnson
(1827 - 1908)
Date1861
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 10 1/2 × 18 1/4 in.
SignedSigned lower left: "1861 D.JOHNSON"
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, March 3, 1862
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number668-P
Label TextEsopus Creek, a small waterway running through the Catskills, was a frequent subject for Johnson during the late 1850s and early 1860s. The small On the Esopus falls into the "river-bend" category of landscape, which John I.H. Baur isolated as a favorite early type of the artist. These scenes usually include a foreground bank, a disturbed but calm water surface, and a prominent clump of trees (Baur, 43). In a letter sent to the Academy in 1862, Johnson appears apologetic for the small size of the painting: "[P]ermit me to state, that when the pictures belonging to [the] Academy, come foreward for public exhibition I hope it may be in my power to replace it, with something more pretenscious [sic]." Johnson never sent a substitute work.
