This work, featuring meticulously rendered beech and basswood trees, was painted for the New York collector Abraham M. Cozzens, then a member of the executive committee of the American Art-Union. The painting illustrates a new trend in the work of the Hudson River School, with its diminished emphasis on sublime drama and increased interest in naturalism and the creation of a tranquil mood. Durand was influenced by the work of the English landscape painter John Constable, whose vertical formats and truth to nature he admired while visiting England in 1840. The composition of The Beeches resembles that of Constable's The Cornfield (National Gallery, London), but the golden light and smooth application of pigment recall the ideal landscapes of Claude Lorrain and even Durand's early mentor, Thomas Cole.

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