Homeward Path

A Hudson River School painter, Hart was born in Scotland and came to the United States in 1831, settling in Albany, New York. In 1851 he visited Düsseldorf, Germany, where he studied briefly with Johann Wilhelm Schirmer. An early sign of his success, in 1952, the Albany Evening Journal praised his “ability to see and portray the poetry of nature.” Just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War he moved to New York City, where wealthy patrons began collecting his work. Going beyond merely realistic depictions of nature, a critic wrote in the Art Journal in 1875 that Hart offered “refinement of sentiment and delicacy of expression which are not excelled by any member of the Hudson River School.” The Allen owns three paintings by James as well as four by his brother William Hart, also a leading 19th century landscape painter.