Stephen Hannock captured this view of the Connecticut River from the same vantage point chosen by Thomas Cole (1801–1848) for his famous View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow (1836), in the collection of the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum (acc. no. 08.228).

The lacquered surface and transparent light effects of Hannock's painting emphasize the stillness of dusk on a cloudless autumn day. No breath of wind stirs the air; no animal enlivens this panoramic landscape combining truth with fantasy. In the 1920s a passage was cut through the river's once-scenic loop, the Oxbow, and bridges now connect the mainland and the artificially created island. The mountains rising in the blue distance are invented, as is the flooded state of the river.

Since attending art classes at Smith College, in Northampton, during the 1970s, Hannock has claimed this landscape as his own. Here it inspired him to cover large areas of the rust-colored, tilled fields with inscriptions that relate to his friends and to the events of daily life. The names and initials in the title refer to Cole's student Frederic E. Church (1826–1900) and to Agnes Mongan (1905–1998) and her sister Elizabeth (b. 1905), both important curators and teachers, as well as mentors of the artist.