Blasted Tree

Jasper Francis Cropsey

Oil on canvas

Newington-Cropsey Foundation

Blasted Tree is an oil sketch painted by Jasper Francis Cropsey in 1850, depicting a gnarled, weather-beaten tree rendered with close attention to variations of color, tone, and line. Like his fellow Hudson River School painters, Cropsey made oil sketches directly from nature—frequenting the Catskills in the late 1840s and early 1850s—and incorporated such observed motifs into his studio compositions. Cropsey was a first-generation Hudson River School artist, celebrated for his vivid autumnal landscapes and deeply held belief that nature was a direct manifestation of God. The inclusion of a blasted or storm-damaged tree reflects a pictorial tradition practiced in emulation of Thomas Cole, whom Cropsey greatly admired, and serves as a study in the expressive, dramatic potential of the natural world.