Stoke Poges

After several extended trips to England, Jasper Francis Cropsey quickly became an established artist in London and discovered favored subjects among the captivating landscapes and monuments that he encountered, particularly the Church at Stoke Poges. The present work illustrates the wedding procession of William Penn, the famous Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania. Cropsey knew that the wooded area shown at the right of the composition, as well as the unseen Stoke Poges Manor House, belonged to the Penn family, and perhaps it was this fact that sparked his fantastic depiction of Penn's wedding procession. Other compositions by Cropsey that also incorporate the Church at Stoke Poges depict the scene where famed English poet, Thomas Gray, is believed to have composed his masterwork "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."

This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Jasper Francis Cropsey by the Newington-Cropsey Foundation, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.