American, 1823 - 1900
Jasper F. Cropsey was raised in rural Staten Island, New York. He demonstrated an early interest in architecture. After receiving a diploma at the Mechanics Institute of New York fair in 1837 for his model of a house, he became determined to pursue study in that field. Soon after he entered a five-year apprenticeship with the architect Joseph Trench, but as his interests turned toward painting, Trench encouraged him in these studies. Cropsey began studying landscape painting under the British artist Edward Maury. His early efforts were promising, and he received further encouragement from Henry Inman and William Sidney Mount. In 1843 Cropsey opened his own architectural office in New York and the same year began exhibiting his landscapes at the Academy. Over the next four years he worked on various architectural commissions but devoted his free time to landscape painting.
In 1843, following the standard artists' practice of the period, Cropsey made his first sketching trip to a scenic area of countryside to gather material for paintings to be worked up later. Although throughout his career Cropsey would make the rounds of all the popular northeastern landscape sites-the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Hudson River Valley, upstate New York, Lake George, and Newport, Rhode Island-Greenwood Lake, spreading over the New York-New Jersey border, which he visited on this first excursion, would remain a favorite place and subject. It was near Greenwood Lake that he met and courted Maria Cooley, whom he married in May 1847. In nearby Warwick, New York, in 1869 he built a grand home, Aladdin.
Immediately following their wedding the Cropseys departed for Europe. After a brief stay in England and visits to Scotland and Wales, they traveled to the Continent and by October had settled in Rome, taking Thomas Cole's former studio. Cropsey quickly became a prominent figure among the American artists living there. Over the months he was abroad he made frequent sketching trips with such American colleagues as Christopher Pearse Cranch, Thomas Hicks, and William Wetmore Story. In the summer of 1849 the Cropseys returned to the United States. He now worked as a painter exclusively and took a studio in New York with Thomas Hicks.
Cropsey's career advanced rapidly. His works were exhibited frequently at the National Academy, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and the Boston Athenaeum, and were acquired and shown by the American Art-Union. Following the example of Thomas Cole and Asher B. Durand, he produced both realistic and allegorical landscapes such as The Spirit of War (1851, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) and The Spirit of Peace (1851, Woodmere Art Gallery, Philadelphia), which employed medieval settings and costumes (both shown at the Academy in 1852), and Days of Elizabeth (1853) and Millennial Age (1854, both Newington-Cropsey Foundation, New York). Cropsey was active in Academy affairs at this time: he was a Visitor to the school for the 1852-53 season and served on the Council in 1854-55.
In 1856 Cropsey auctioned off the contents of his studio to raise funds for a return to England; the family settled in London, remaining until 1863. Within a year he began exhibiting landscapes at the Royal Academy. In 1857 the dealer Ernest Gambart commissioned him to execute a series of thirty-six views of American scenery, sixteen of which were completed. As early as 1855 Cropsey had exhibited a landscape entitled Autumn, and his images of the foliage of that season in the American Northeast won him special favor with the British public. It was a subject he would pursue for the rest of his career.
Despite this outstanding success in England, Cropsey and his family returned to the United States. Taking a studio in New York on Broadway, he continued working as a landscape painter but also began occasionally accepting architectural commissions. In 1867 he became a founding member of the American Society of Painters in Water Color, and in the same year he designed an apartment house-a pioneering conception that was not built. His 1876 designs for stairways, waiting rooms, and platforms for New York's Sixth Avenue elevated-train system were built, however, and survived well into the twentieth century. Architecture was always a secondary occupation for Cropsey, though he did not take it lightly; as late as 1887 he designed a home for W. H. Webb in Tarrytown, New York.
Having financially overextended himself in constructing Aladdin, he was forced to sell the mansion in 1884. The following year, he purchased a more modest house in Hastings-on-Hudson, north of New York City, to which he added a studio; today they comprise a public museum, maintained by his descendants.
Although Cropsey's landscape paintings became less overtly allegorical in the second half of the nineteenth century, probably in response to popular tastes, he steadfastly adhered to the landscape tradition of the Hudson River School painters throughout his long career.
In 1843, following the standard artists' practice of the period, Cropsey made his first sketching trip to a scenic area of countryside to gather material for paintings to be worked up later. Although throughout his career Cropsey would make the rounds of all the popular northeastern landscape sites-the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Hudson River Valley, upstate New York, Lake George, and Newport, Rhode Island-Greenwood Lake, spreading over the New York-New Jersey border, which he visited on this first excursion, would remain a favorite place and subject. It was near Greenwood Lake that he met and courted Maria Cooley, whom he married in May 1847. In nearby Warwick, New York, in 1869 he built a grand home, Aladdin.
Immediately following their wedding the Cropseys departed for Europe. After a brief stay in England and visits to Scotland and Wales, they traveled to the Continent and by October had settled in Rome, taking Thomas Cole's former studio. Cropsey quickly became a prominent figure among the American artists living there. Over the months he was abroad he made frequent sketching trips with such American colleagues as Christopher Pearse Cranch, Thomas Hicks, and William Wetmore Story. In the summer of 1849 the Cropseys returned to the United States. He now worked as a painter exclusively and took a studio in New York with Thomas Hicks.
Cropsey's career advanced rapidly. His works were exhibited frequently at the National Academy, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and the Boston Athenaeum, and were acquired and shown by the American Art-Union. Following the example of Thomas Cole and Asher B. Durand, he produced both realistic and allegorical landscapes such as The Spirit of War (1851, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) and The Spirit of Peace (1851, Woodmere Art Gallery, Philadelphia), which employed medieval settings and costumes (both shown at the Academy in 1852), and Days of Elizabeth (1853) and Millennial Age (1854, both Newington-Cropsey Foundation, New York). Cropsey was active in Academy affairs at this time: he was a Visitor to the school for the 1852-53 season and served on the Council in 1854-55.
In 1856 Cropsey auctioned off the contents of his studio to raise funds for a return to England; the family settled in London, remaining until 1863. Within a year he began exhibiting landscapes at the Royal Academy. In 1857 the dealer Ernest Gambart commissioned him to execute a series of thirty-six views of American scenery, sixteen of which were completed. As early as 1855 Cropsey had exhibited a landscape entitled Autumn, and his images of the foliage of that season in the American Northeast won him special favor with the British public. It was a subject he would pursue for the rest of his career.
Despite this outstanding success in England, Cropsey and his family returned to the United States. Taking a studio in New York on Broadway, he continued working as a landscape painter but also began occasionally accepting architectural commissions. In 1867 he became a founding member of the American Society of Painters in Water Color, and in the same year he designed an apartment house-a pioneering conception that was not built. His 1876 designs for stairways, waiting rooms, and platforms for New York's Sixth Avenue elevated-train system were built, however, and survived well into the twentieth century. Architecture was always a secondary occupation for Cropsey, though he did not take it lightly; as late as 1887 he designed a home for W. H. Webb in Tarrytown, New York.
Having financially overextended himself in constructing Aladdin, he was forced to sell the mansion in 1884. The following year, he purchased a more modest house in Hastings-on-Hudson, north of New York City, to which he added a studio; today they comprise a public museum, maintained by his descendants.
Although Cropsey's landscape paintings became less overtly allegorical in the second half of the nineteenth century, probably in response to popular tastes, he steadfastly adhered to the landscape tradition of the Hudson River School painters throughout his long career.
