2-722-098 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

A Home in the Wilderness, 1866. Gifford’s view of Mount Hayes in New Hampshire records human intrusion into a remote landscape. On the left riverbank a log cabin stands amid a recently cleared patch of land with several tree stumps, while figures in its doorway greet a man who has arrived with a canoe of supplies. A contemplative mood permeates the scene, whose tranquility is underscored by the luminous, atmospheric haze. The artist once described this painting as having "as much light and sunshine as I could squeeze out of my paint tubes."