拍品專文
Like his friends and colleagues, John William Casilear found the Catkills a great source of inspiration for his art. Above the Falls- -Catskill, executed circa 1862, reflects Casilear's concern for finely finished pictures of celebrated sites in the mountains. In 1867 Henry Tuckerman wrote of Casilear's pictures, "They are finished with great care, and the subjects chosen with fastidious taste; the habit of dealing strictly with form, gives a curious correctness to the details of his work; there is nothing dashing, daring, or off-hand; all is correct, delicate, and indicative of a sincere feeling for truth, both executive and moral; not so much a passion for beauty as a love of elegance, is manifest; the precise, the firm, and the graceful traits of artistic skill, belong to Casilear." (Book of the Artists, New York, 1867, p. 521)