The Majestic Beauty of Rivers Captured in The Metropolitan Museum
From 1857 to 1891, Inness painted a number of views of the Delaware Water Gap, located on the border of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
This early version, which reflects some of the tenets of the Hudson River School, juxtaposes a moving steam engine at the left and heavily laden barges on the river, with the pastoral element of grazing cows in the foreground.
The panoramic view of the countryside is enhanced by dramatic climatic effects:a passing storm and a rainbow.
Cows Crossing a Ford
The painting is of a landscape with a low horizon and broadly painted sky.
The painting is of interest to Dupré because it fits the description of an "expansive and true composition" recently painted "on the spot" in the Limousin region of central France.
The painting was first owned by Paul Périer, an early supporter of Dupré as well as his colleagues Théodore Rousseau and Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps.
Vaprio d'Adda
Bellotto picks out the village of Canonica d'Adda at the right and Vaprio at the center.
Located northeast of Milan, Vaprio was the site of Villa Melzi, where Leonardo da Vinci visited his pupil Francesco Melzi.
Bellotto noted that this painting and its pendant were made in 1744 for Count Simonetta in Milan.