Watching the Stream

The present work is a splendid example of Jasper Cropsey's gift for meticulously rendering light and atmosphere. A serene depiction of a fall day, Watching the Stream carefully captures the sunlight streaming through the trees and onto the glistening water. Likely referring to the present work, an 1868 review in the New York Evening Post describes: "Cropsey has also a smaller landscape, lately finished, representing an autumnal scene near his country residence in the northern part of New Jersey. There is a rustic bridge over a glimmering transparent water, a soft hazy Indian summer sky, distant hills, and trees impending over the stream in all the glory of their autumn hue." (New York Evening Post, May 4, 1868, p. 2.)