Kensett visited Lake George in the Adirondacks on numerous occasions and made many studies of the area (see also 74.7, 74.11, 74.20). This painting is Kensett's largest and most accomplished treatment of the subject, as well as a fine example of his mature style. He has taken considerable liberties with the topography in composing the work, but certain specific sites can be identified. Kensett's vantage point was probably from Crown Island, off Bolton Landing on the west shore, looking across the lake northeast toward the Narrows. The distance has been substantially reduced in the representation, some of the islands have been omitted, and others relegated to the shore.

• Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

  Signature: [at lower right]: J F. [monogram]

• Provenance

  Morris K. Jesup, New York, 1869–died 1908; his wife, Maria DeWitt Jesup, New York, 1908–died 1914

• Timeline of Art History (2000–present)
  Thematic Essays

  The Hudson River School

  John Frederick Kensett (1816–1872)

  Timelines

  The United States and Canada, 1800–1900 A.D.
• MetPublications
  American Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1816 and 1845 (1985)

  American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School (1987)

  The American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1985)

  Masterpieces of American Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1986)

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 9, The United States of America (1987)

  Nineteenth-Century America: Paintings and Sculpture (1970)

  A Walk Through The American Wing (2002)